{"id":18730,"date":"2023-10-25T21:04:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T21:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/wind-powered-minigrids-could-electrify-malawi-un-awarded-founder-says\/"},"modified":"2023-10-25T21:04:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T21:04:44","slug":"wind-powered-minigrids-could-electrify-malawi-un-awarded-founder-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18730","title":{"rendered":"Wind-Powered Minigrids Could Electrify Malawi, UN-Awarded Founder Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>One of the prevailing issues in climate change is that the locus of innovation \u2013 by locus I mean \u201cmoney\u201d \u2013 is in the global north, while the biggest impacts and urgency, and by extension, the best entrepreneurs, are in the global south.<\/p>\n<p>Innovations take root and have an impact when they\u2019re brought to market by authentic entrepreneurs: ie, those whose lived experiences give them empathy for their customers and deep insights into what will work in a particular market and what won\u2019t. I thought of this when speaking recently to Precious Mafunga, 31, who received a commendation from the United Nations, sponsored by GBC International Bank, last month for a plan he is working on to create wind-powered mini-grids. Some of his supporters told him: \u201cThis program that you are working on will have a widespread impact,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I applied for consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his application, he emphasized some of the problems that come from a lack of electricity, like not being able to power infant incubators. Fewer than 12.4% of people in the country where he\u2019s from, Malawi (population 21 million), have electricity. Mafunga, who is from a rural area, said that the leading cause of people not finishing elementary school was simply that they didn\u2019t have light to read by. Studies bear this out: \u201cenergy poverty\u201d is connected to lower levels of educational attainment and slower economic development. \u201cThere are so many challenges that are caused by lack of access to electricity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mini-grids have proven good solutions in the developing world. A typical climate friendlier design combines solar panels with diesel generators. But Malawi has a rainy season, when months can stretch with hardly any sun at all. Mafunga, whose fledgling company is called SolisBioEnergy, has a plan for a wind-powered mini-grid. He\u2019s worked out a pretty good business model to the stage where it is ready to be tested.<\/p>\n<p><fbs-ad position=\"inread\" progressive=\"\" ad-id=\"article-0-inread\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n<p>One 150 kwp mini-grid costs $850,000 and can support 900 households. Mafunga estimates customers could pay $750 a year (including subsidies and aid for part of the total). \u201cThere are nurses and school teachers living in homes without electricity,\u201d he said \u2013 an example of the kind of knowledge a local entrepreneur brings to a problem. Where someone from a developed country might assume that lack of electricity means a family is living in poverty, the real picture is more nuanced.<\/p>\n<p>There are organizations well aware of the need to propel funding and connections from north to south. Mafunga took part in the Canadian Student Energy Fellowship, where he honed his idea. I met him through CrowdSolve, a Colorado-based online pre-accelerator that helps climate entrepreneurs from all around the globe get their companies ready to pitch. (Disclosure: I\u2019m on the board of the Crowdsolve). With these imprimaturs from the global north, Mafunga hopes he will find a funder who will trust him with the money to test one mini-grid.<\/p>\n<p>Mafunga, meanwhile, shows all the signs of an entrepreneur. He paid his own way through university with a business selling local eggs to students. \u201cI have experienced the real definition of what poverty is,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I want is to address the challenge. If I see improvement in the economic condition, I will be more than very much happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His first call, when he heard about the commendation from the United Nations was to his mother. His father died when he was 6, so she brought him up alone. When she heard the news of the award, she said, \u201cPrecious, you keep making me proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/elizabethmacbride\/2023\/10\/25\/wind-powered-minigrids-could-electrify-malawi-un-awarded-founder-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the prevailing issues in climate change is that the locus of innovation \u2013 by locus I mean \u201cmoney\u201d \u2013 is in the global north, while the biggest impacts and urgency, and by extension, the best entrepreneurs, are in the global south. Innovations take root and have an impact when they\u2019re brought to market [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wind-Powered Minigrids Could Electrify Malawi, UN-Awarded Founder Says | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the prevailing issues in climate change is that the locus of innovation \u2013 by locus I mean \u201cmoney\u201d \u2013 is in the global north, while the biggest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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