Climate change and environmental degradation have long threatened our planet’s future. This threat continued until sustainable energy and green technology came to the rescue. According to a 2022 report by the World Economic Forum, renewable energy is critical to Africa’s future. The continent is forecast to be home to 2 billion people by 2050. African countries have since attempted to align with this prediction, with many transitioning to renewable energy sources.
Apart from embracing sustainable energy, other African countries are taking bold steps in utilising green technology in agriculture to sustain the economy and maximise profit. With Africa facing the dual challenges of rapid population growth and limited access to energy solutions, five women have risen to the top in sustainable energy and green technology to develop solutions that address local and global environmental challenges. Below is an inexhaustive list of four African female clean energy and green tech actors:
#1. Francine Munyaneza, CEO of Munyax Eco
Francine Munyaneza is the founder and CEO of Munyax Eco, a company specialising in solar energy. She is also the founder of La Maison Verte, a green, ecological building project. Academically, the Rwandan woman has a finance and business management background from the Catholique de Louvain University of Belgium. Beyond her educational qualification, Francine has worked at the senior management level with top North American corporations and leading humanitarian organisations (ICRC, MSF ).
Francine was born and partly raised in Europe. She later returned to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). While growing up as a refugee, she found it difficult to access electricity. This challenge didn’t pass, as she had a similar experience while working in the humanitarian sector many years later. Disturbed by this, she quit her job at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and founded MUNYAX ECO Ltd.
Munyax Eco is a private company that collaborates with other private sector players, governments, and NGOs to provide well-tested solar equipment for their regions. She is known for bringing women into the fight against climate change by primarily marketing clean and renewable energy to communities.
Francine’s business impacts the Great Lakes Region and empowers women through the fight against climate change. Her company has been recognised at home and abroad, impacting nearly 1,000,000 beneficiaries. They have reduced carbon emissions by over 5,000 tons annually, creating direct and indirect job opportunities for many women.
The company has also provided energy efficiency consultancy services, energy auditing, and feasibility studies for PV projects in Rwanda and Burundi.
#2. Rekik Bekele, CEO and Co-founder, Green Scene Energy
Rekik Bekele is an electrical engineer with over ten years of experience. She is the CEO and co-founder of Green Scene Energy, a company that works on solar systems, especially solar home systems for off-grid communities.
Rekik graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Electrical Engineering from Addis Ababa University. She started her solar and renewable energy career at a company specialising in building installation designs.
In 2014, Rekik co-founded her first company, RK Renew Lighting and Cooking PL. The company was set up to produce and supply improved cooking stoves by making stove liners. However, RK Renew failed after one year.
She then founded Green Scene Energy in 2016. Green Scene Energy installs solar home systems for rural communities. It has increased access to clean energy, created job opportunities, and positively changed the industry. Green Scene Energy has provided solar home lighting solutions to over 9000 households. It has also installed over 85 pumps and implemented productive solutions, like cooling and agro-processing industry systems. The tech company is improving the lives of numerous individuals and rural communities.
#3. Sandra Chukwudozie, CEO, Salpha Energy
Sandra Chukwudozie is a Nigerian female entrepreneur and clean energy activist. She is the Founder and CEO of Salpha Energy and the executive director of Dozzy Group.
Chukwudozie was born into an entrepreneurial Nigerian family. Her parents, Daniel Chukwudozie and Lady Ada Chukwudozie own a conglomerate in multiple industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, power generation, and real estate.
Sandra graduated from the University of Manchester with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science in 2014. She is a certified NLP Master Practitioner from the NLP Centre of New York. She also bagged a master’s degree in international oil and gas management from the University of Dundee (Centre for Energy, Petroleum & Mineral Law and Policy) in 2015.
In a moment of rebellion, Sandra left her budding career at the United Nations (UN). She refused to take shelter under her parents’ wealth and influence but instead chose to start her own business to attend to the energy needs of Nigeria’s poorest communities.
Thus, she founded Salpha Energy in 2017, a solar company that designs, manufactures, and distributes solar power systems for homes and businesses in Africa that lack access to reliable electricity. In 2021, her company won a World Bank-funded grant for the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).
Salpha Energy has an active distributor network of over 500 sales agents, cooperatives, and traders across Nigeria. It also has key partnerships with payment collections enablers such as InfiBranches, Paga, and Interswitch, which has helped it extend its reach into underserved communities. She was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 (Energy Category) in 2022 and hopes to expand her company’s impact into industrial applications to provide net-zero carbon solutions.
#4. Nneile Nkholise, founder of Thola Inc
Nneile Nkholise is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Thola Inc. Her company is a leading global company that buys forensically tested and verified climate-sustainable goods from African farmers. Thola Inc. is creating a B2B marketplace for farmers and foreign companies to trade agricultural produce.
Nneile was born in Lesotho and grew up in South Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Witwatersrand and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from the Central University of Technology.
With eight years of experience in construction and biomedical, she co-founded iMed Tech, a biotech company specializing in custom-made medical solutions using CAD and CAM techniques. At iMed Tech, she was instrumental in developing biomedical products such as prostheses and bio-implants.
Nkholise observed that producers and farmers producing high-quality goods faced challenges in exporting their products due to the absence of certification bodies to audit their farms and issue global trade licenses. Her company, Thola Inc., is dedicated to simplifying the export of African agricultural products through its B2B global agricultural procurement marketplace.
