Ajegunle females win Solar Jooce RE award; workshop participants receive talk on energy-efficient homes

With Ajegunle youths at the prize presentation for the Solar Jooce RE & Entrepreneurship workshop: (L-R) Dave Agbakoba (Founder, Solar Jooce); Ekaete Bassey-Fujah (LEED certified Architect); Bassey Etuk (volunteer Engineer)

September 29, 2014, Lagos, Nigeria… - The Solar Jooce RE and Entrepreneurship workshop (designed for 10 youth from Dustbin Estate in Ajegunle area of Lagos state) ended on 30th August, 2014.

The workshop ended with a competition in which the 10 youths, grouped into teams of two, submitted basic “lemonade stand” styled entrepreneurial plans on how they would deploy a portable solar home system (consisting of LED lights, phone charger, radio, table fan) to start a micro business in their community.

The contest entries were judged by representatives from the United Nations (UN) Habitat, Nairobi and the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) on a total of 40 points. Some of the criteria used by judges included originality, creativity, sustainability, relevance to community, clarity of idea presentation and inclusiveness (team work).

Competition winners (L-R): Miss Eze Faith and Miss Odufowoke Aliyah

Miss Odufowoke Aliyah and Miss Eze Faith emerged winners with a cumulative score of 33 points for their submission titled DIRECT POWER. The DIRECT POWER entry proposed using the lighting feature (LED bulb and T5 light tube) of the solar home system to operate a mobile food service business, while also charging a fee to neighborhood customers to have their phones charged. Aliyah and Faith planned to use their business proceeds to acquire more units in order to expand their business.

Said Dr. Vincent Kitio of the UN Habitat: “Good identification of the problem. Good marketing strategy. It is clear what will be the product/service to provide to customers. The cost benefit is not clear, as DC fan and bulbs are expensive. But good intentions.”

Ms. Monika Umunna of Heinrich Böll Foundation added: “The food/catering sector is definitely a rewarding and expandable market for RE. So it’s a very good idea to start with small restaurants to spread the knowledge and use of RE. Once there is a break through it could be expanded to other providers in the food business (i.e the people using push carts to offer hot snacks or tea/coffee etc). Here again, the proposal concentrates on providing electricity in the night but the project owners also mention that they would use their income for the purchase of more batteries. So the business model is quite clear. A market survey with positive feedback was done before developing the proposal”.      

Solar kit being handed to prize winners

Hosted by the LOTS Charity Foundation in Ajegunle, the award ceremony took place on Saturday 27th September 2014 where Miss Odufowoke Aliyah and Miss Eze Faith received a multifunctional portable Solar Home System to pursue their winning idea. 

At the event, Ms. Ekaete Bassey-Fujah, a successful LEED certified Architect, shared with the youth her experience as a professional, the benefits of energy-efficient homes, and an inspirational story of a poor Malawian boy who taught himself to build a windmill from scrap and rose to international acclaim.

In the coming months, sustained training for the 10 youth will cover entrepreneurial business plan development, utilisation of Direct Current appliances, and practical assembling of RE appliances such as solar lanterns.

The ultimate reward from these workshops will be for the youth to become change agents for energy efficiency and Renewable Energy technologies within their communities.