Name: Femi Oye
Age: 30
Project: “Solar Powered FIFA 2010 World Cup”.
State Implemented: Lagos
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +2348037080251
Website: http://www.goSolarAfrica.org
The Need
In a country of over 150 million, an estimated 70% are poor and have inadequate access to electricity. Over 4billion Naira or $27M is spent daily to buy kerosene, Candles and petrol by these same poor Nigerians for alternative power, this is aside from those buying batteries and corporate bodies cost for generating alternative power. Epileptic electric power supply has remained a core problem in Nigeria.
The Innovative Idea Response
During the FIFA 2010 World Cup, Femi Oye built a 10KV solar farm with 8 module solar panel and powered a large LG screen for members of Iwerekun community in Lagos State to watch all the World Cup matches Live! Beyond the World Cup showing, Femi is now training community youth on how to build and market Solar panels as an alternative source of electricity!
The Story
Femi believes strongly in green jobs and enterprise development, thus he acquired solar panel production skills and today is training local communities on how to replace dangerous and toxic kerosene lantern/candles with a safe solar lantern and how to install small scale solar devices to power their businesses, barbing saloon, commercial phone charging units, radios etc. Of course a slow start at first but powering a community with solar energy during the FIFA World Cup has further boosted his profile; community members are now buying into it and people are being trained and empowered to earn sustainable livelihoods!
Result
The outcome of this project led to a better understanding of the impact of global warming and climate change, health safety awareness, increase in the earning capacity of young people, women employability and so on through a tailored solar micro- enterprise development program within the period. Iwerekun youth and women now receive energy loan from the Lagos state Microfinance Scheme and 3 State Governments; Ondo, Rivers and Kaduna have adopted the project; even an 84 year old community chief is now a solar phone charger engineer. For Femi Oye, Climate Change is a good business! This project has directly impacted 518 people.
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