Bimbola Adisa: A Beacon for Power Generation in Africa

*This article was first published in my column “Celebrating Entrepreneurship’ in Graphic Business on Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Bimbola Adisa is bringing people together. His power solutions are keeping businesses in Africa flourishing, serving as a reliable source of energy and saving them money.

When I met him recently in Accra, he recounted a story of how just a few years ago his family would drive to an office of the erstwhile Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) just so they could make a phone call to relatives in England.

“You’d have to sit in a waiting room then some official would call your name when your call came in because you couldn’t dial international on your home phone,” Adisa explains.

Beacon Power Services (BPS), which he founded in 2010 supplies power to businesses primarily using renewable sources such as solar and biomass.

Through its proprietary ‘Beacon Monitor’ software platform, the company also helps businesses better manage their power use, through the ability to measure and control power use remotely. A major bank previously wasting significant amounts because it had equipped each of its branches with large (oversized) heavy-duty generators is now able to rescale in order to meet the actual and anticipated demand for particular branches, saving money both in terms of procurement costs and reduced diesel use.

In addition to uninterrupted power and lower energy costs, BPS can claim to bring other benefits with its products, including reduced emissions and a cleaner environment.

It has been a slow grind, but businesses are finally beginning to take note. In his native Nigeria, the firm now boasts several banks, hotels, fast-food outlets and factories among its clients.

Adisa is quick to point out that Nigeria is only the starting point. “The vision is pan-Africa,” he says. “The energy and power challenge is also pan-African”. I have to admit that this is an argument that is difficult to argue with.

For now, though, BPS is focused on powering up businesses. Adisa believes that when power is more affordable for companies — the engine of economic growth — more people are affected. One example is the portable solar generators that BPS is providing to power the kiosks which retail phone products. Thanks to the company, even in the most remote parts of Nigeria a kiosk owner selling recharged phone cards is assured that he can continue his business — whether or not he is on the national grid.

When I ask him if he thinks renewable energy is the future for Africa, Adisa says calmly: “It’s already here. The issue now is how fast it’s going to be rolled out and taken up throughout the continent”.

He uses the story of his family queuing up to make a phone call to illustrate the transformation the telecommunications industry has gone through. That’s the scale of transformation he seeks to ignite in the power industry.

“I had seen a similar chance to provide disruptive technology that could solve our uniquely African problem,” he muses.

“Nobody was taking the bottom-up approach I thought we should be taking. If nobody was doing it then someone eventually would. I thought: ‘Well, why not me?!’”

In a bold move, he quit his investment banking job in Chicago and, after a year of research and analysis, became fully convinced of the opportunity to provide the transformative impact he had always dreamt of providing one day.

Impact is very important to Adisa and he takes seriously the responsibility thrust on him by his privileged background.

“I have been fortunate to attend some of the best schools and to work for some of the best companies in the world,” Adisa proclaims. “And this was a great opportunity to let my country benefit from that.”

Adisa holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Salford University; and two masters degrees, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and Masters in Manufacturing Management from the McCormick School of Engineering — both part of Northwestern University. He worked as an aerospace engineer at British Airways and Rolls Royce, before turning to investment banking.

You’d think he would consider the success he has had with BPS so far as a significant achievement.

Yet he isn’t satisfied just yet. At least in business.

Family, on the other hand, is a different matter. He considers himself very fulfilled — as the father of two young sons, aged 10 and 7.

“I’d rather call it my greatest privilege: to be a father to those adorable boys and a husband to my dear wife”, he says.

One of his greatest pleasures, therefore, is indulging in his greatest ‘extravagance’ with the boys, both devoted Liverpool FC fans — the annual pilgrimage to Anfield to watch a match.

It leads one to wonder whether thanks to Adisa’s technology Liverpool’s Jordan Ibe’s relatives in Nigeria can watch him on television without interruption.

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