Interview: Akon discusses solar opportunities in Africa

Samba Bathily: Most stakeholders have shown great interest, and there is also progress in terms of the mentality – from the African side first and foremost. When we began, people in Africa still doubted the effectiveness of solar energy because their experiences with NGOs was disappointing – they would come, install, but after three years or so, nothing worked any more.

So things are moving differently this time. On the financial side today there are loads of initiatives and models. This synergy is helping us to reach the end goal – to give light to Africa.

Charity and handouts shouldn’t be driving Africa forward; you’ve reiterated that time and again. So how important is it for local communities to see that the decision-makers, the guys in charge, are all fellow Africans?

Akon: Ultimately, when a neighbor sees another neighbor in a better position, they want to be in that position too, so they ask them how that is possible. So it’s our job to expose those opportunities to the locals, so that way they see that those opportunities are available and they can be a part of the change as well. That is why we are careful to make it clear that for every project we put out, the locals are clearly involved and they are obligating every situation that happens in their particular communities.

Is this one of the reasons why you have been so successful in such a short space of time?

Akon: Absolutely. We’ve been able to mobilize the communities and involve them in the projects. They have become a part of it, they have that involvement, and can say that they have been part of that development. Not only are they beneficiaries of these solar projects but they are often the supervisors, too.

Such pioneering schemes are bound to face some difficulties, so could you explain what the main challenges have been so far?

Akon: The biggest challenge in the beginning was more about belief. Coming in, there was initial skepticism among some African communities concerning solar, rooted in how they were treated in the past by NGOs coming in, lack of follow up etc.

We have been careful with our model to ensure that the communities are taught how the product is going to be maintained, to see the quality of the solar product etc… and now they are seeing the same movement being implemented by other organizations, they now view solar as more believable and more effective at meeting their needs.

You’ve mentioned before the parallels between solar’s disruptive ability in the energy sector to how the music industry has evolved in recent years. So with this in mind, what are your hopes for solar’s ability to continue to disrupt traditional energy models in the future?

Akon: I see renewable energy in the same light as digital music, and how it transformed the music industry. Many CEOs in music didn’t understand this new digital format, the structure, or how it actually worked, so it was largely bypassed and ignored by the big, traditional music companies.

Then along came Apple with iTunes and now they dominate the music and film digital space, and the traditional big players in the industry have almost become slaves to them. They didn’t take the time to understand this new model, and it is the same concept with renewable energy – this is the new age, the new way to distribute energy: cleaner, cheaper, easier to understand and operate.

Every way you look at it, the new age of energy will be renewable-driven. The only question now is how do you merge the old with the new? And how does it make sense from a financial standpoint? We have to toss the old way of thinking out of the window to make room for these new approaches – getting people to change what they’re used to is the main challenge. But solar has shown that it can meet that challenge.