TURNING PROBLEMS INTO BIG PROFITS
Entrepreneurs tackle challenges in African nations, Craig and Mark Kielburger write.
At any given moment across Nigeria, more than 12 million gas-powered generators are running. They churn out megatons of greenhouse gas annually, and sometimes kill entire families with their fumes.
Nigeria’s undersized energy grid barely provides enough electricity for a quarter of the nation’s 190 million citizens. Even then, it’s often just a few hours of power a day. Most Nigerians rely on small, gas-powered generators in homes and small businesses. Apart from environmental and health damage, fuel is an unwelcome cost in a country where the average yearly income is just US$3,596.
Ademola Adesina saw his country’s power problem as an opportunity.
Using a pay-as-you-go leasing model, Adesina’s startup Rensource replaces gas generators with hybrid solar-battery systems. There are zero emissions, and the monthly fee is less than the upkeep of a generator. Since launching this past February, Rensource has already installed 500 solar systems. The company plans to replace 500,000 gas generators with renewable energy over five years.
With African nations undergoing a business renaissance, Adesina represents the continent’s rising entrepreneurial class. He’s among those finding a profitable niche by taking on social and environmental challenges.
“It’s all that I see in Nigeria. The most viable and successful businesses target some sort of (social or environmental) impact,” says Adesina.
These businesses aren’t learning about corporate social responsibility after they launch. “They’re doing it from the start because it makes the most business sense,” adds Eliot Pence, a Washington-based international investment adviser and founder of the Africa Expert Network, a collective of consultants for global companies wanting to do business in Africa.
Adesina and Pence both point to another example of Africa’s entrepreneurship working for social impact — Andela. This three-year-old firm has already built an international reputation for training young Nigerians, Kenyans and Ugandans in software development, then connecting them with tech companies around the world.
The business is creating job opportunities and raising local wages while stemming the brain drain of skilled professionals fleeing Africa.
Look no further than last year’s winners of the Africa Entrepreneurship Awards to see more.
Mahmud Johnson founded a zero-waste palm fruit processing facility that uses every part of the palm plant to produce consumer goods, from cakes to skin-care products. A valuable resource in his home country, Liberia, the business has increased incomes for small-scale palm farmers by 200 per cent.
Jennifer Shigoli, from Tanzania, won recognition for Elea, a company producing affordable and reusable sanitary pads. One in 10 girls in sub-Saharan Africa skip school during their periods because they can’t afford expensive disposable pads.
African entrepreneurs have found their niche solving social problems for considerable profit, and to the benefit of their communities and their countries. This is the future of business. Entrepreneurs around the world should take note.