#ShoutOut [Part 3* in my #Climate Entrepreneurship series] __"Let's change energy!"

Almost 10 years ago, I was having a chat with my friend Dr Rajiv J. Shah about the next big thing we could use to change the lives of rural people. He had just stepped down as Director of USAID and was thinking about his next impact role.

We both agreed that developments around solar energy could do it.

“The cost of solar panels is coming down quickly, but at night we need battery storage; I don’t think we are there yet on batteries,” he lamented before adding: “Why don’t you and I do a deep dive into what is really going on; we can share papers and articles, and also talk to all the scientists and entrepreneurs working this space.”

I agreed!

Every day we sent each other articles and we soon had a kind of WhatsApp group of some of the smartest guys working in solar energy. We visited Elon Musk's company SolarCity, and engaged people in India and China. I even travelled for a field visit with Richard Branson to Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania to look at some of the nascent initiatives. We also met and discussed the visions we had with policymakers.

All the while, my own knowledge was growing through this immersion.

After Dr Raj Shah decided to become President of The Rockefeller Foundation, where I was then on the board, we soon got the Foundation to direct more efforts into this area.

Through its “Smart Power” initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation first focused on mini-grids in sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Then they moved on from that to co-found the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet [GEAPP] which includes 50+ #Investors, #Philanthropists, and other key institutional players working together with a shared vision to enable access to power to 300m people...?

__#People, who in their entire lives so far, have not been able to switch on a light, whether in their homes or businesses or schools...? Imagine. [And for some of you, you know exactly what I'm talking about from personal experience].?

Well, GEAPP is now talking about investing billions into African mini-grids over the next decade. And the Rockefeller Foundation just announced support of an initiative called #Mission300. [More on this next post].

Why??

Stop!??

Do your research. About 600m people in Africa alone still have no access to energy. A huge problem; but also an #Opportunity for #Innovation and #Action.

Now do you see the #Process by which change happens, by those who refuse to see barriers to problems??

That's the kind of person my friend Raj Shah is. He gets tough stuff done! He doesn't just say "Let's change energy for the good..." He does it. And it's happening. [#Process, #People, #Product and #Partners, in action...]

Now this is what will happen next!

Within 5 years most progressive African countries will have mini-grids providing power to any village community with more than 10,000 people. It’s inevitable. This power will not be provided by national power companies but by small SME power companies with maybe 5 employees!

Business opportunities will explode for entrepreneurs who use electricity in their operations. Noisy diesel generators will disappear eventually and in 10 years or so they should be gone, all over Africa!

10 years from now?

Electricity will be readily available in rural areas just like mobile phones. Power entrepreneurs who know how to scale will have hundreds and even thousands of mini-grids; these guys could even become billionaires if they know how to raise capital and scale, even to other countries.

Others will find opportunities to build all kinds of businesses and will also scale. Electricity is #GroundZero in development, and mini-grids are the solution for rural and remote communities of virtually any size.

Question for you?

Where will you be in it?? Will you be an entrepreneur or an observer?

It’s up to you.

Note: *Full series on FB.