He pointed out the challenges of getting power to rural areas, these being
For example, it takes about Ksh 100 for a rural person to go to a place that has power in order to charge their cellphone. This need not be the case at all, because battery charging stations can be set up in close proximity to most people in rural areas. His company has set up systems in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon and in the near future ivory coast. (White African asked the question about which countries his companies have been working in).
He had a powerful graph showing how 85% of Kenya (africa?) is not connected to the grid. The striking thing about Mr. Mwacharo’s company is the use of locally available materials and labor to create the systems. The inverters are made at a local university, the wiring and set up of the systems is done in his backyard. The fiberglass is locally cast though he imports the solar panels and magnets from China. His is a company that completely localizes renewable energy to provide power in a simple yet elegant way. Use of wind, complemented by solar and higher efficiency LED lights make this a very nimble system for off grid power provision.
During the q and a session, A gentleman asked a question whether netmetering is possible such that a hygrid (Grid tied solar sys) is possible, where excess energy generate by the homes can be sold back to the power company. Mwacharo answered by pointing out that the systems his company has deployed so far are not necessarily grid tied at this time, they are still off grid and not integrated.
I think that Mr. Mwacharo’s talk is very important for Africa, because it exemplifies that solutions to the ‘dark continent’ lie in the backyard of Africa’s homes and the universities in Africa. Bridging the ‘lighting gap’ is possible without continuing reliance on fossil fuels but with african ingenuity such as what he has shown us today.
Note that Yidris Mohammed has pointed out the the next big opportunity in Africa is the generation of power. Can we as Africans be so bold as to aspire for a grid tied system that can light up our continent in a clean, efficient and economically enhancing way? I firmly and resolutely believe so. It makes sense, and yes, Africa deserves to be brilliant. Not just light, but brilliant.
Thank you Mr. Mwacharo! For writing the first chapter in the energy transformation of Africa.
She switched from Chemical engineering to computing where she started by selling hardware and training professionals in Nigeria. Keep doing what you are doing she says. In 1988 Omatek was incorporated and soon her company became a premier partner with Compaq and IBM [>$7mil in sales]. In 1991, she visited Asia she saw the supply chain and noticed the Chinese tech was developed in house. She came back to Nigeria, started Omatek Computers. Despite the ‘clone’ tag attached to her company, she ploughed on. People used to call the Chinese copy cats, see where those companies are now.
The idea of ‘designing down’ does not sit well with Florence, she believes that African computers can be made locally and at high quality. Buying computers for resale can get challenging because of minimum orders to the tune of $700,000. This is a major stumbling block and thus the imperative is for Africans to create their own supply chains.
Challenge 2: Financing from banks who do not see the opportunity.
Challenge 3: Electricity problem in Nigeria. This ties back to the talk by Idris Mohammed that the next big opportunity is in providing power in Africa.
Needed.
- Lots of SME’s can help with bridging the digital divide.
- Continued Govt support for locally made products.
She took the risk of starting the business and well…what a trailblazer for all women!
ALIEUH CONTEH - Founder of Vodafone Congo
–govt was not helpful at all when it comes to licensing, it was a challenge. besides the lack of infrastructure, it cost so much in capital expenditure. The metaphor would be ‘getting stuck in the mud’ figuratively and literally since the trucks would get stuck in the mud and things were just harder to get going.
He put forth all his savings and built the network over the years, even as the war continued. He had to negotiate with the govt and the rebels. CWN Started out with 30,000 subscribers and grew to 3 million subscribers growing by 1.5 to 2 million a year. Current valuation of the company is $1.5 Billion.
Ainea Kinaro - 3 minute talk on Organic Waste - The ignored Resource. He showed pictures of the Human waste is being collected into huge systems to produce methane gas. The other by product is fertilizer which is used in rwandan coffee farms. He reviewed the benefits of using renewable energy, especially something as abundant as human waste.
You can find more over at Ethans’ my battery is done for.
Opinion: Spoke shortly with Tom Rielly the Director of TED partnerships. “TEDGlobal is the kind of conference Africa deserves” Indeed!
]]>
The founder of Mama Mikes will be speaking shortly, a few links to get acclimatized to the energy whirlwind that is Segeni.
1. KP’s interview of Segeni about challenges faced by young entrepreneurs in Kenya.
2. Cool You tube ad of Mama mikes
** He just started with the ad, he mentioned that in his company, the idea is to have fun doing what you love, and that is what they continue to do.
]]>Fractals, Design and Africa
!! Indeed !!
Design cornrows using transformational geometry. Click here.
Ron Eglash spoke on looking at fractals in African architecture and design. For non comp sci people, fractals make for some of the most beautiful designs. For African geeks, egm and mathematicians, get the book.
TED Global 2007 feels like a seminal moment in Africa.
Russell Southwood: Balancing Act Africa
Looking at cities and ‘real news’ about Africa, he sees an affluent Africa emerging. A picture of modern looking Abuja and cultural expression in Nollywood.
Favourite quote - “What is an Ipod? Its a hard disk with hot pants.”
Chris Anderson to African designers “Please do not copy the west”. I like that. Could we have the kenyan rappers heed his call please?
]]>Artemisia is a plant with a sweet smell that provides raw material for malaria treatment drugs like cotexcin (also marketed in french countries as cotexa). It is a plant that is indigenous to china but grows very well in East Africa. I had not heard of Artemisia before but had seen the cotexin drugs at the pharmacies in kenya. The tour was very informative and eye opening. We began with visiting the nursery which was in the valley. It had rich dark loam soil that is perfect for Artemisia growth The small plant pictured here is an artemisia seedling, the leaves look like those of carrots or cilantro.
Mr and Mrs Loshie told us about how they irrigate the seed beds and ensure that the seedlings get enough water by having pipes utilize gravity to get the water close to the seedbeds. Mr. Loshie pointed out that he had to hire some manual labour to do the work as he and his wife cannot do it all themselves. In April they had about 400,000 seedlings. They supply the seedlings to other farmers in the area who pay after selling their leaves. As you can already tell, cultivation of this crop generates employment in the community and other farmers also intercrop it into their fields (planting artemisia between other plants like bananas and coffee)
Mr Loshie was asked about the benefit of planting Artemisia vs Maize, he said that he makes 4X more by planting artemisia, and can earn Tsh 15000 from 5 bags. It does take alot of manual labor to harvest, dry and bag the leaves. Once the leaves are bagged and ready, they are bought at he price of 750 Tsh per kilo and transported to Athi River processing plant in Kenya where the ingredient arteminisin is extracted into a crystal form.It takes 1 tonne of artemisia leaves to extract 10kg of crystals. This goes to Novartis in Switzerland where the final product of Cotexcin tabs are made. The TZ country director Tom Lennox explained that the arteminisin content of leaves from EA is very high, and EA can compete with China and Vietnam which have approx 70% of market share processing artemisia. The EA region currently commands 20% of that market. I asked Bruce McNamer the CEO of Technoserve (The company that set up this business in East Africa) if there are any plans to have the tablets made in Kenya or TZ instead of switzerland, especially since the tabs are used in Africa for malaria treatment. He said that the process for certification from the WHO in order to make this a reality is a stumbling block to making this happen. It takes a really long time to get the certification for drug processing.
Artemisia cultivation is a real market opportunity with room for growth and better yet, a platform for EA to compete with China on a cash crop.
More Pics posted here…[Bono was there. He is a sweetheart, a rock star one at that]
I am sitting next to Jen Brea, she blogs about China’s involvement in Africa.
Ndesanjo is liveblogging TED in swahili here.
]]>