Starting in Juba, where families will have access to a 15,000-watt wind and solar power station, LIG will also build a community center, making electric coffee processing, water pumping, refrigeration, and internet capabilities available for the entire community.
With global electricity demands having increased by 40 percent in recent decades, and renewable energy providing the bulk of that growth, Africa presents a unique but often ignored opportunity to establish a foothold in the growing renewable energy sector, providing unique educational benefits to Africa’s rural and remote communities in the process.
Mostly, access to power is lacking in rural, remote areas in the world’s poorest countries. Access to electricity means a lot more than a hot shower.
It means access to education.
Think about the One Laptop per Child initiative in Rwanda. It’s one of the greatest humanitarian efforts in recent memory…but how will residents charge their laptops if there’s no electricity?
So we know renewable energy is the future. We even know that renewable energy is the present: World Bank is financing huge renewable energy projects, all over the world. But underserved communities are getting left behind.
And as more financial heft is pumped into new projects, the gap between underserved communities and the rest of the world widens.
What’s often forgotten is the simple fact that rural areas, though largely forgotten in renewable energy projects, are the most populated areas of the world.
Remote areas are where the people are, and where the need for renewable energy is greatest.
The LIG Model
LIG is introducing a unique financing option for solar-powered electrical systems. In the heart of rural communities, we will build a community center powered by solar kits. These kits will be available to residents through an attractive financing option.
We want to make financing solar power as easy as buying a car in the US.
Families will be able to buy solar kits in affordable monthly installments, drastically lowering the barrier to a fully functioning, self-sustaining energy grid.
LIG’s customers are public institutions, including local governments, which will provide incentives to reduce the cost of renewable energy systems.
We’ll also work with global donors like United Nations bodies, World Bank and international NGOs in their efforts to sponsor local governments in renewable energy initiatives.
The Real Winners
While LIG will provide new opportunities for local governments and global donors, the real beneficiaries of LIG’s services will be residents who need lights in their homes, in their schools, in their hospitals.
The buyer for our services, then, is local government. The end user is local residents.
Then, a power grid will be built that passes the energy produced by that panel to all the public buildings included in the contract with the local government.
If a community already has a grid, LIG’s solution will plug right into it. We bring everything necessary to literally light up entire towns.
No one will be left in the dark.
To make LIG’s vision possible, we’ll leverage our significant relationships with local, national and state officials in Africa and abroad.
The solar kits that we plan to use have been in production for years, and have been proven to be effective, efficient and reliable sources of sustainable energy.
In Asia alone, our manufacturing partners have sold millions of solar kits to thousands of users.
Click the “business profile” tab at the top of this page
to find out how we plan to do it.
Alexandre represented his political party in Rwanda as an elected Member of parliament before founding LIG in 2011. Prior to serving in Parliament, he worked as a Laboratory Technologist on initiatives to eradicate HIV/AIDS, both with the International Aids Vaccine Initiative and the International Partnership for Microbiocide.
Dr. Shaba is one of Africa’s most prominent education specialists. In his distinguished career, he’s served as a teacher, trainer, lecturer and Senior Research Associate. He’s worked as an independent education consultant and as Education Programme Manager for various humanitarian agencies in South Asia and West Africa.
Mr. Brish is an energy and technology executive specializing in hyper P&L growth, extreme turnarounds and leadership changes. Well-versed in P&L general management, funding, corporate development, operations, marketing, business development, turnarounds, R&D and project management, he’s raised more than $100 million from corporate sources, private equity investment and government grants. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Tehuti Networks, Binalgo, Deverus, XPoint Energy, Corner Stone, SolarSyz and VaporTrack.
Mr. Mansfield has extensive experience in finance and international markets, housing, hotels and commercial property and marketing, with an emphasis on renewable energy and renewable energy finance. The current President at African Growth Group, Inc., he also served as President at SD Consultants Group, Inc. and as CEO of Wabana Capital.