Akon plans to bring solar electricity to 600 mil people in Africa

[Deleted]

http://themindunleashed.org/2015/06/...in-africa.html

"Even those of us who are not fans of pop music and showbiz have heard the name Akon. Now, it seems that the interests and talents of this Senegalese-American RnB singer go beyond music as he is launching a major initiative with a purpose to improve the lives of millions of Africans.

The initiative called Akon Lighting Africa aims to bring solar power energy to 600 million people in rural Africa who don’t have electricity at all.

With 320 days of sunshine a year, Africa is a perfect fit for solar power but yet lacks experts and technicians who would have the knowledge necessary to bring innovative sustainable technologies to African households.

“We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise and that is our objective,” said Samba Baithily, co-founder of Akon Lighting Africa.

For this purpose, Akon plans to open a ‘Solar Academy’ this summer in Bamako, Mali. Training and equipment provided by European specialists will give Solar Academy graduates all the necessary knowledge and skills to implement this ambitious project. In particular, the future engineers will be trained to build and maintain small power systems called “micro-grids,” which have been developing quickly in rural Africa.

Not only will this help provide African communities with electricity, but it will also create new job positions. Considering the fact that 70% of the African population is under 35 years old, this is a major step in improving the living conditions of many people in this continent.

“We are doing more than just investing in clean energy. We are investing in human capital. We can achieve great milestones and accelerate the African transformation process on condition that we start training a new generation of highly qualified African engineers, technicians and entrepreneurs now,” said Baithily.

In fact, it’s not Akon’s first philanthropic initiative. Back in 2007, he launched a charity organization called the Konfidence Foundation, which aims to raise the levels of literacy and education among unprivileged African and American children, as well as to support and improve health conditions for poor families in Senegal, West Africa and the United States."

[Jaxi]

Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam. God I love his name.

Hopefully his mission is a smashing success.

[Deleted]

This flew right under the radar the past few days because a certain someone who had their dick chopped off was on vanity fair. Everyone far to busy praising a trans than to notice what he was doing for a hell of a lot of people

[KeredNomrah]

Really glad to see something like this is happening. It's amazing the fact that we have the ability to reduce our fossil fuel consumption dramatically by using this technology but it's being overlooked by so many. Last year there was a case involving a florida woman living off-grid that the court system went after because she was required to be hooked up to their system. The only way these technologies will become cheaper and more available will be if there is more demand for it.

The article I think is titled wrong though. Should state he's opening institutions etc instead of saying he's "bringing solar to 600 mil people". It will take a lot of effort to get the infrastructure in place to either build or have the equipment shipped in and that's a whole other ballgame that will have to be handled down the line.

[Grimbold21]

In before the locals pillage the materials

[Deleted]

I heard of aid organisations having to bribe people for every cago container going to africa don't know what percentage
lands there in the end.

[Neyze]

In before the locals pillage the materials

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[imabanana]

"Even those of us who are not fans of pop music and showbiz have heard the name Akon. Now, it seems that the interests and talents of this Senegalese-American RnB singer go beyond music as he is launching a major initiative with a purpose to improve the lives of millions of Africans.

That article doesn't start really well. I've never heard of him. (even wondered if that was "him" or "her" before reading the 2nd sentence)

Solar thingies works really well for underdeveloped places though, nomads in Mongolia all have their solar panels outside their gers with tv/phone/light connected to car batteries charged by them. Easy to use, move around and tinker with, I've seen some crazy shit done with only these.

[Neyze]

Lol yeah I don't know why they made him out to be so famous. I used to listen to him in like 5th grade, that's the only reason I know him. Wouldn't expect anyone else to.