Lack of electricity was hurting residential and commercial activities, especially the processing of agro-products such as maize and cassava.
A majority were dependent on kerosene lamps, candles and firewood. Until a couple of years ago, only a handful of these households had access to electricity - but even that was through petrol-powered generators. With a population of just 200 households (or about 1600 people), Bisanti’s economy largely depends on farming and running small convenience stores. Our team had an opportunity to meet these young entrepreneurs during a visit to the village of Bisanti, which has a solar mini grid installed by GVE.
#Solar grids install#
They aim to install over 200 mini grids by 2020. Today, their company GVE has 40 employees and serves 5,800 households through their various mini-grid projects. Orajaka, Eze and Onyekwelu felt compelled to change this. These communities relied on kerosene lamps and candles for light and had to go to the village market to charge their mobile phones.
Their work took them to remote villages, where people still lived without electricity access, despite being in an oil-rich region. The trio began their journey in 2006 while they were interns at Shell Petroleum Company in the Niger Delta. In their 20s, they are the co-founders of Green Village Electricity (GVE) Projects Limited -a company that has been providing electricity access to remote and rural parts of Nigeria through solar photo voltaic (PV) solar mini grids since 2012. Photo credit: Simi Vijay Photography©/for the World Bank Who would have imagined an internship with an oil company in the Niger Delta could lead to a solar startup? For Ifeanyi Orajaka, Chuka Eze and Ikechukwu Onyekwelu, it turned out to be just that. Bisanti villagers in Nigeria appreciating first time access to reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity through the solar mini grid system.
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