When he’s not singing or producing music, Akon is busy providing
sustainable living options to people in African countries. The
Senegalese-American singer’s initiative, appropriately called Akon
Lighting Africa, aims to supply electricity to 600 million people in
Africa who lack it with the launch of the Solar Academy.
Located in Bamako, Mali, the Solar Academy will help African
engineers and entrepreneurs develop skills that will enable them to
produce solar power. Experts will be on hand to help the participants
with training and equipment, according to a Reuters report.
According to Akon Lighting Africa, the goal of the academy is to
teach people how to maintain solar-powered electricity systems and
microgrids. Both systems have been growing quickly in rural parts of
Africa. In a continent that has 320 days of sun a year, roping in its
natural resources will be valuable to the solar-energy efforts.
“We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to
homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise,”
said Samba Baithily, who founded Akon Lighting Africa with Akon and
Thione Niang.
The organization also hopes to create jobs with its initiative.
“We expect the Africans who graduate from this center to devise new,
innovative, technical solutions,” said Niang. “With this academy, we can
capitalize on Akon Lighting Africa and go further.”
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