AKON BRINGS ELECTRICITY TO SIX HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE IN AFRICA

Jay Z may be streaming music, but Akon is streaming LIGHT! Music star Akon is already famous for lighting up the stage. And that’s clearly not enough for the Senegalese-American singer. He now is poised to light up the continent of Africa.


Akon has launched a powerful new initiative called “Akon Lighting Africa.” The initiative aims to bring electricity to 600 million people in Africa. The initiative will accomplish this through his Solar Academy.


Solar Academy supports African engineers and green energy entrepreneurs, cultivating resources needed to produce sustainable solar power enterprises that work. The academy will facilitate experts who will bring training and equipment instruction to ambitious African engineers.


There is nothing more abundant on the continent of Africa than “sun”. This could be a big problem solver. Rural Africa has been catching on to the new technology and is in need of it more than anyone. Akon’s Solar Academy looks to harness that power through microgrids and solar supported electricity systems and bring light to a world that the world has largely forgotten.


Thione Niang spoke for the Akon Lighting Africa organization saying, “We expect the Africans who graduate from this center to devise new, innovative, technical solutions.” She continued, “We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise.”