Category Archives: Entrepreneur

Solantern: There is no longer a reason to use kerosene for lighting

Posted on by
3

Today at The British Council in Upper Hill Nairobi, I reconnected with a TED Global 2007 friend Joseph Nganga. He has a company called Renewable Energy Ventures (KE) and is currently a reseller for an innovative lighting solution called ‘The Solantern’. He was kind enough to give me a brief demo over lunch and I got to play a bit with a new solar device. It’s wonderful to see this device, because 2 years ago in Arusha we had a conversation about solar energy, gadgets, etc… I commend him for getting his business going, do look out for more collaborations from his company on a consumer guide for solar gadgets.

The ‘Sun King’ consists of a polycrystalline solar module, cable, a stand and a ring of LED lights. It can work as a small torch, a task light, and a hanging light.

Below is the video with a brief overview.

Solantern from afromusing on Vimeo.

It retails for 25 usd/ 2000 kes and you can call +254 721 211 406 to order.
Email: info [at] africarenewables [dot]com
Twitter: @thereva

Physical Address:
150 James Gichuru Road Opposite Lavington

PS: I would dissuade anyone from getting the Safaricom ZTE Simu Ya Solar. Its shoddy and a waste of money at 3000kes. I bought one in August of this year and its Kaputt now. A much better gift is this solar lantern which is priced quite well at 2000kes. I will be testing it further this christmas, but from initial looks of it, the module is sturdy and the design is quite functional.

Post to Twitter

Shop online using mobile money: PesaPal is Live!

Posted on by
1

Pesapal

PesaPal is a service that enables anyone with an MPESA or ZAP mobile money account to buy goods and services from approved merchants. Why should people with credit cards and paypal accounts have all the fun? For the 6.5 million users of MPESA in Kenya, PesaPal will be a welcome service, particularly to those without credit cards, but do have MPESA accounts. Granted the number of merchants available right now is limited, as merchants sign up there will be lots of choices for buyers as to the services and goods they can order with their mobile phone and the web.

Pesapal

PesaPal is a product from Verviant Consulting, a company that has made inroads in the IT consulting business, providing end to end IT support. This new product ushers in a new form of commerce. The CEO Agosta Liko recently spoke to Capital FM in Nairobi regarding the advent of fiber optic cable in Kenya, and the new way to do trade online…

“I call it ‘new commerce’ because e-commerce was the era of credit cards and all. We will own this era where I should be able to pay for mangoes from Mombasa and pick them in Nairobi. I see it becoming the way by which we buy,” he projected.
Mr Liko said this development would most likely be driven by increased competition, the need to ease the cost of doing business and remain competitive.
“From this point going forward, people are going to see how they can make money from the internet, how you can save operational costs and how customers will be willing to pay on time,” he said.

I see this a tighter coupling of the mobile phone and the cloud. Something I have alluded to in the past . Its gratifying to see homegrown solutions to the problem of trading online in a seamless way, we need not wait for Paypal to get its act together and include sub-saharan countries, we can just get on with business.

Online merchants, click here to register your business to accept PesaPal, and friends in .ke, sign up here for the service. Developers, do not fret, here is the info you seek, on how to use the PesaPal API.

Disclosure: Liko Agosta is a close friend of ours, and I bum off of the Verviant offices bandwidth whenever I am in Nairobi. I was a pre-beta tester of PesaPal

Post to Twitter

Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

Posted on by
Reply

Two opportunities I would like to pass along, the first is SEPS (Sustainable Energy Project Support) call for applications.

Now in its fifth year, WISIONS, a Wuppertal Institute initiative that is funded and supported by the Swiss-based foundation ProEvolution, has launched its annual call for applications for Sustainable Energy Project Support (SEPS).

WISIONS invites the submission of proposals from now until 18 August 2008. The total grant fund for financial support of SEPS projects in this, the 5th round (2008), is ?500,000 (across all projects). Partial funding of projects is possible.

We are looking for promising concepts and innovative projects with an integrated approach in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Our main goal is to identify environmentally sound projects that use modern existing technologies, demonstrate the advantages of sound energy solutions and integrate local people, enabling acceptance and further replication.

The deadline is August 18th, and you can download an app here.

Via AFriWea

SeedCamp for the entrepreneurs in Europe

From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class network of mentors, we want to provide a catalyst for Europe’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

The deadline for this is August 11th.

Via Park Paradigm

Post to Twitter

Simon Mwacharo Renewable Energy Entrepreneur – Video

Posted on by
4

DSC02939

Simon Mwacharo and William Kamkwamba – Renewable Energy Innovators.

Here is the video i did with Simon Mwacharo, the founder of Craftskills, a wind and solar company based in Kenya. This was recorded after his TED talk which you can find a great summary of at LHKB Ethan??s and my post on his talk can be found here.

**I am a total noob on this one, please pardon the frequent uh huh??s vigorous head nodding and leading questions?I said it was a conversation right? Right. I promise that the next video I make will definitely be better; I am getting started on Pixel Corps to get me on the road to better digital media work.(Thanks Alex Lindsay). Ok, without further ado?

Please click here to download the video

Update1: Mr. Mwacharo commented on the post

We are situated in Kibera slums Nairobi and are looking for a chance to give Africa her pride. Funds will come in handy to place us on an industrial scenario where we can produce these turbines at a lower cost and benefit wananchi.

Check out his company here.

Meeting these two gentlemen pictured above at TED was indeed an honour. I am not the only one who was impressed…Nii Simmonds has a post on William Kamkwamba, “I see I make”.

Update 2: Via Hash, William Kamkwamba has a blog, do visit him here.

Post to Twitter