Young Tanzanian switching on rural areas with solar energy

It was eight years before he was able to return to his birth town and he was surprised to find that it faced the same problems it did when he left almost a decade earlier.

The main reason for the stagnated development, he discerned, is the district’s energy challenges. Lack of reliable electricity had in many ways put the brakes on development and prevented local industries from reaching their full potential.

“Some days you had electricity and the next day you don’t...a day of energy today, no energy a day after. So many blackouts,” he recalls during an interview with The Guardian earlier this week in the country’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.

“Electricity supply is really important for the development of a country. Without electricity, New York or Johannesburg would just be villages, they’d be like Ifakara,” he reasoned.

At 17 years of age, Mtemahanji took a technician course in renewable energy and that was when he begun to envision the potential for solar energy solutions in his power starved home region.

For starters, photovoltaic plants are cheaper to maintain than the traditional power plants, they are not impacted by fluctuating prices of petrol or diesel and require far less investment in infrastructure as they did not need kilometres of transmission lines to connect rural areas.

In fact, he thought it was bizarre that solar solutions were not being deployed already.

“We have a lot of sun and it is really very strange that no one is doing anything with solar energy. So when I saw how much of a problem it was, I thought, I can do something about this,” he recalls.

When Mtemahanji returned to Italy he paired up with a fellow student and started researching on the solar energy market in Tanzania and opportunities opened up.

He realised that one of the reasons many communities and households did not adopt the technology was due to distrust of solar solutions, a result of poor quality products in the market.

“I remember talking about solar panels with some people who were working in a pension fund in Tanzania, and I was shocked to hear one person say that the solar lamp has less powerful than a normal electricity lamp.

I tried to explain the problem is not with the solar energy, but with the lamp but it was difficult to change the misconception,” he said.

By 2013 Mtemahanji and his friend decided to launch a solar energy solutions company in Tanzania, specifically targeting rural areas.

They started looking for financial partners and suppliers and came across a Swiss organisation which wanted to build a photovoltaic plant at a school in Ifakara. The duo offered to design and construct it for them for free, and was granted permission.

They completed the system in January 2015 in just a month’s time and now, it is the largest photovoltaic plant in Kilombero and can power over 200 lights, dozens of computers, fans, a kiosk, a recreation room and also has the ability to store three days worth of energy.

“We designed it,” he says proudly “...we also had to design a ventilation system to keep the system from getting too hot and losing some energy. We built a good system,” he said with a smile.

It wasn’t long thereafter that the duo officially registered their company, SunSweet Solar. The photovoltaic business has partnered with German solar company Fosera to supply energy solutions and household kits suitable for rural areas.

“With 70 per cent of Tanzanians having no access to electricity, we can give them electricity for 25 years for only $79… it costs less than $0.30 per month,” Mtemahanji said.

“Today a litre of kerosene costs $1.10. That means the people in rural areas spend 73% more on kerosene per month than on our solar system,” he added.

Young, but powerful

Mtemahanji, now 22, has recently been chosen as a finalist for the Anzisha Prize, Africa’s premier award for young entrepreneurs, where his company stands to win USD75 000.

The competition is designed to highlight how young people in the continent have the power to operate innovative businesses that can bring positive change to their communities.

Mtemahanji noted that of the greatest business challenges he now faces is convincing investors not to be deterred by his age; “...in Africa it is difficult because when I start talking with people about our company and solar solutions, they often look at us like we can’t be taken seriously just because we are young,” he said.

“It is really stressful for young people to build businesses on the continent because there are many stereotypes about us,” he added.

His advice to other young entrepreneurs facing similar challenges is not to let it prevent them from getting up every day and trying their best to achieve their dreams.

“If we do not believe in ourselves, no one can believe in us. So we must have self-confidence,” he conclduded.