Ignite Impact Report 2020

KIGALI, RWANDA, February 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Ignite Power is pleased to announce the release of its 2020 Impact Report, encompassing testimonials from the company’s customers in the most remote villages across Sub Saharan Africa. The report focuses on various categories, including education, safety, health, income, and family life, while analyzing the effects that electricity access has had on everyday living in the region.

Ignite has been operating throughout the Sub Saharan region since 2014, and has already provided more than 1.5 million people with sustainable life-enabling solutions including Solar Home Systems, solar irrigation pumps, clean cooking stoves, solar home appliances, and more. The company provides its customers with the most affordable price plans in Africa, and has already created 3,500 job opportunities in remote communities, with inclusiveness and gender equality leading every step of its way.

“Having electricity at home is a life-changing event that most of us today take for granted”, says Gil Karie, Ignite’s Innovation Director. “For hundreds of millions of people across the most rural villages of Sub Saharan Africa, electricity is all but obvious. Talking to some of our customers and hearing how access to power has changed their lives is the most humbling experience, and the reason for us to do what we do”.

In this report, Ignite's team focused on Rwanda's last-mile villages in the Gisagara, Nyamagabe, Ruhango, and Kivomo districts throughout a month-long tour. The company’s agents spoke to dozens of families, visiting their homes, farms, and small businesses, while gathering meaningful testimonials (“Before having light we used petrol for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes, and risked burning the house. We also lit this battery-operated stick and used it as a torch to see at night”. Said Celestine Nkundabern, 45, a farmer from the Kabunjwiri village in Gisagara. “Now with the Solar Home System we feel much safer.”)

While all customers highlighted the importance of home electricity, some of the testimonials left the team surprised, due to the unexpected impact of the solar system. Mukande, 31, a farmer from Kabunjwiri had one of those stories. “Now with the lights, we sleep much better”, she surprised Ignite’s agents. “We used to sleep with the cows before, because it wasn’t safe to leave them outside due to the many thefts going on after dark”. Mukande points out the family’s cow grazing grass next to her son. “Now, thanks to the light we keep them outside, and everybody has more room to sleep comfortably”.

Despite tremendous efforts made by local governments, global NGOs and various companies in the past decade, there are still more than 770 million people across Africa that are living without electricity access in their homes, and 75% of them reside in sub-Saharan Africa, a share that has risen over recent years, according to the IEA. COVID-19 and its many implications is now pushing countries across Africa away from achieving universal access due to shifting financial priorities of both governments and the local population, and Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit the hardest.

“Electricity is an essential building block of human development, as shown in the report”, says Karie. “It is crucial for education, gender equality, economic development, and many other factors that have been, and still are badly hit by the pandemic. Continued investment in the off-grid solar sector is vital for hundreds of millions of people in rural areas across Sub Saharan Africa”.

In the near future, Ignite is expected to expand its operations and enter new districts in its countries of operations, as well as in new countries across the SSA, planning to reach millions of added customers in the coming years. “We believe that electricity is a basic human right, which is deserved by all, regardless of their location or economical status”, says Karie. “Through these meaningful testimonials we witness the immense effect that this access entails, and the millions of lives that are changed every year. together with our partners and supporters, we are now ready to expand operations and impact further, and lead Africa into an inclusive and sustainable future".

<<View Ignite's Impact Report 2020>>

About Ignite Power

Ignite is the fastest-growing Pan-African developer, distributor, and financier of life-enabling technologies, providing customers across the SSA region with state-of-the-art solutions to their every-day needs. Its mission is to empower hundreds of millions of people by utilizing advanced technologies, smart financing models, and extensive on-field operations, leading Africa into a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Gil Karie
Ignite Power
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