Long before solar energy became a major part of conversations around Africa’s development, Akon was trying to tackle one of the continent’s most basic challenges: access to electricity.
Launched in February 2014 with a target of bringing electricity to one million households, Akon Lighting Africa had reached 14 countries in less than a year, according to the project’s own account and contemporary reporting. Because a major music star entered the energy sector, but because of how quickly the initiative attempted to move from an announced goal to physical solar installations across multiple African countries, akon’s project therefore became notable not simply. Its work combined solar technology, public-private partnerships and local employment with a much larger objective: finding practical alternatives for communities that conventional electricity infrastructure had not yet reached.
In February 2014, the Senegalese-American singer launched Akon Lighting Africa, an initiative focused on using solar power to provide electricity to communities that were not connected to reliable power networks. By August 2014, only months after the initiative was launched, a report from Northwestern University’s Medill News Service said Akon had stated that solar installations had already reached 14 African nations. A 2015 United Nations Sustainable Energy for All forum document said the initiative had already reached 11 countries at that point and was seeking to accelerate rural electrification threw off-grid solar solutions.
A 2015 statement from the initiative said solar systems were pre-financed so that equipment could be deployed more quickly, while governments and other partners participated in the wider process.
At that point, the project had completed about a quarter of its stated one-million-household target, according to the report. The project was founded by Akon along with Thione Niang and Malian entrepreneur Samba Bathily. The model was also designed around financing.