Akon Lights Up Africa, Brings Electricity And Education To Africans

- May 22, 2015

Akon Lighting Africa, bringing electricity to million households

Artiste Akon has launched the initiative of lighting up Africa - the first solar academy in Africa. The academy will aim to teach people how to install and maintain solar-powered electricity systems as well as micro grids, “which are really taking off in rural Africa.” The institution, is scheduled to open in the summer in Bamako, Mali’s capital. The group announced the launch of the academy at the second United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum in New York.

The academy will give African engineers and entrepreneurs the skills needed to develop solar power. European experts will also help supply training equipment and programs.

“We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise,” said Samba Baithily, who founded Akon Lighting Africa with Akon and Thione Niang.

Seventy percent of Africans are under 35, and creating sustainable jobs is vital, the group said, so investing in solar power for the future can help in more ways than one.

“We expect the Africans who graduate from this center to devise new, innovative, technical solutions,” said Niang. “With this Academy, we can capitalize on Akon Lighting Africa and go further.”