What is your off-grid energy business?
Our business dries food, such as fruit and vegetables, using solar energy, in order to preserve post-harvest food.
Can you give a brief overview?
The business mainly deals with drying product by using solar energy. We provide services to farmers and training to customers so as to make them use natural products, so as to preserve their health by encouraging them to eat fruits and vegetables.
What inspired you to start working in off-grid energy? Are there any key people who inspired you to work in this area?
I was inspired because many areas in Tanzania do not have grid energy, but they are good farmers. Most farmers are located in the villages where there is no power, so using alternative sources of power to preserve food in those areas will help them to feed their society.
Have you lived in an off-grid community? If the answer is yes, what is something you want people with reliable energy to know about growing up off-grid?
Yes. I would encourage them to use energy properly, and make use of the opportunity they have.
What is the most important thing you have learnt so far by being on the off-grid energy track?
I learned how to transform a problem into an opportunity.
What are some of the challenges you have faced when coming up with an off-grid energy business?
Sourcing the instruments, finding relevant knowledge, and support from people who already have energy or other sources of energy.
Where do you hope to be 3 years from now?
3 years from now, I hope to widen alternative sources of energy, to help people from off-grid, to preserve more food and improve more lives. I want to see farmers motivated to produce more food because they are able to preserve it, and not waste anything.
