Stories are what make the world and inspire the imagination. We have collected, and continue to add, stories about energy access and rural development around the world, as well as the latest updates and thoughts from our own projects and activities.
Interview with Huw Jones Executive Director & Founder at The Virtual Doctors Location: Zambia “If you’re got education and health, that’s a foundation.” Huw Jones traces the earliest origins of The Virtual Doctors to a trail of blood he saw while travelling through rural Zambia to buy pumpkins for soup. It was the mid-1990s and he was …
Can telemedicine revolutionise rural healthcare in Africa? Read More »
Interview with Rik Stamhuis Co-Founder and Managing Director, Jiro-Ve Location: Antananarivo, Madagascar “It is the business model, and not the product, which needs innovation in solar” How do you change people’s behaviour forever? Rik Stamhuis says you need to ensure that there is a solution which won’t force people to have to go back to their …
Micro-entrepreneurs and business model innovation in Madagascar Read More »
Marc Zedler, Project Manager, Connected Solar Market Centers (CSMC), Solarkiosk Location: Berlin, Germany and across Africa “Focus on a core group of entrepreneurs who engage with the community” For Marc Zedler, there is a bigger picture at Solarkiosk, a German solar company operating in multiple African countries. Having a service which provides rural communities with …
Interview with Ron Bills CEO, Envirofit Location: Across the developing world “People want to be treated as customers, with dreams, desires, and aspirations, not as aid recipients” Ron Bills is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for Envirofit, a global social enterprise that has revolutionized the way we think about energy access …
A breath of fresh air: How Envirofit is doing social good with a for-profit model Read More »
Video by Steve Martin Saning’o
Women are central to successful business models for off-grid energy in developing countries – whether they are founding micro enterprises, building small, medium, and large businesses, or are the consumers choosing the best energy sources for their household. In this webinar, you’ll hear from women working on the frontlines of energy entrepreneurship. They will reflect …
On 10 October 2016, Smart Villages was invited to speak to the European Parliament’s Development Committee on the topic of energy and development. Chair of the Development Committee, Linda McAvan of the UK, introduced Smart Villages to the Members of the Committee. Molly Hurley-Dépret presented to the DEVE Committee and called for an ambitious approach …
Smart Villages presents in European Parliament Development Committee, 10/10/2016 Read More »
In August, we held a successful webinar focusing on women and entrepreneurship in off-grid communities, with views from Solar Sister, Ajima Farms Ltd, Power4All, and Kopernik. (https://e4sv.org/events/women-energy-e…) In our current webinar, we will hear from off-grid companies, including Frontier Markets, PEG Ghana, among others, on how they have scaled up inclusiveness and integrated gender into …
When disaster strikes, a community’s ability to respond and recover is tested, whether it is affected by a flood, an earthquake, a drought, a tsunami, or a hurricane, and whether it is located in a rural, urban, or peri-urban area. In this webinar, we’ll bring together experts who have worked in Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, and …
November webinar: Going off the grid: Disaster, resilience, and off-grid energy Read More »
In this video, you’ll learn about the new business opportunities that solar power has created in one off-grid village in northern Tanzania. Rafiki Power’s solar kiosk allows an entrepreneur to build his business while selling mobile money, charging phones, and providing other useful services to the wider community.
70% of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Many of them rely on agriculture for their incomes. Equally, many of them lack access to energy. But what if they can access energy – and apply it to their livelihood? Within this webinar, we will hear from several speakers who are focusing on exactly this …
December webinar: Growing smart villages: Energy & agriculture for development Read More »
In this video, you’ll hear from Akua Adu of PEG. PEG is active primarily in Ghana and offers solar energy products, including solar home systems, to people in rural and urban areas. Adu notes that mobile money to pay for energy is not yet popular in Ghana, unlike in East Africa – but PEG is …
In this video, you’ll hear from José Eddy Torres, an energy consultant who has worked extensively in rural development in Colombia and beyond. Torres explains the challenges facing rural energy and development – and tells what must be done for rural energy projects to be sustainable in the long-term.
Brian Heap talks with Ashok Mangotra, former Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). They discuss the Indian government’s aim to electrify all villages by the year 2020. Since 80% of energy in rural areas still comes from biomass – how will the transition to clean …
Dario Rodriguez, an engineer with Ecuador’s National Institute of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, explains some of the unique social and environmental challenges that Ecuador faces in its efforts to promote renewable energy, including the delicate environment of the Galapagos Islands and the remoteness and isolation of the Amazon.
Interview with Jodie Wu CEO & Founder at Global Cycle Solutions “New products need to be used and experienced and taught” When Jodie Wu was still an engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she invented a simple device that let farmers use a bicycle to shell corn. The mechanism allowed rural farmers to …
Interview with Dr. Sebastian Groh Managing Director of ME SOLshare Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh “People are very smart about solar home systems in Bangladesh” In Bangladesh, 17 million households are off-grid, and 85% of the population lives in rural communities. Solar works here and has done ever since the early nineties when the first solar home …
Can mini-grids be profitable? SOLshare in Bangladesh doubles down Read More »
Interview with Avishek Malla Director of Engineering and Operations for SunFarmer Nepal, a subsidiary of SunFarmer International Location: Kathmandu, Nepal “Farmers in Nepal could never in their lives imagine having a solar-powered pump” In 2015, Nepal was hit by a series of devastating crises. One earthquake was followed by another, and the year ended with …
Solar technologies offer hope in post-disaster Nepal Read More »
Interview with Henri Nyakarundi Founder, The African Renewable Energy Distributor Location: Kigali, Rwanda “Looking back, the only way you can be in business is to be a little bit naive” From bus stops and hospitals, to marketplaces and health centres, to Nyabiheke, one of the four major refugee camps in Rwanda, Henri Nyakarundi is ensuring …
Franchising renewable energy: Smart kiosks across Rwanda Read More »
Interview with Sayouba Guira Director of Nafa Naana, a social enterprise providing clean cooking and lighting products Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso “It’s a crisis, but we are in a country with so many other priorities that people don’t talk about it, which is why we are doing something about promoting clean and affordable energy solutions” …
A clean energy crisis: One Burkina Faso social business aims to address it Read More »