Growing up in rural Kenya with no running water or electricity, light at night was a luxury for small Evan. Evan’s parents encouraged him to work hard and do well in school, but the dim light from one kerosene lantern made his homework hard to see at night. His siblings and him would fight over the one lamp in his hut and he often went bed without having his homework done. A lack of lighting is a huge obstacle in education. Evan witnessed many children drop out because they do not have the ability to finish their homework. In addition to obstacles in education, kerosene lamps can also cause many health issues, including blindness, repository diseases, throat cancer, and lung cancer. While they provided light, kerosene lamps came with many obstacles.
After living through all of these issues concerning kerosene in Kenya, Evan Wadongo decided to take action. At the age of 19, while studying at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, he came up with the idea to replace kerosene lamps with solar-powered LED lanterns. He designed a solar powered lantern named MwangaBora (Swahili for “good for light”) and began a company called SDFA Kenya that runs under the motto of “use solar, save lives”. Through this program, over 100,000 people have received free lanterns and millions of lives have been changed. Using solar-powered lighting allows families to use the money that they would normally spend on kerosene on food and other needs.
Evan Wadongo has been able to change countless lives through his simple product that is able to address a basic and important need. At the age of 24, he was named one of CNN’s top ten heroes of 2010. Homes and schools are now well lit through a safe means of lighting. SDFA Kenya continues to expand throughout all of rural Africa and help more people. As young entrepreneurs, we can follow Evan’s example of identifying an important need and providing a simple, helpful solution for it.
I have experienced first-hand the lack of light options in third-world countries, particularly in Haiti. My older brother went to Uganda and would tell us stories of how the night time was pitch black because no one had access to light. Having children drop out of school because of no way to finish their homework at night breaks my heart, but I am so excited to hear about this young man taking an initiative so solve a real problem. These are the kind of people we need in the world. Loved this post, he is an inspiration!
I never thought about how much of society is impacted by the ability to have electricity, mostly lighting. I take it for granted, being able to just walk into my room and flipping a switch and having light. This seems like an obvious problem but it takes a lot of motivation and dedication to solve this problem, so props to Evan. It is also eye opening how solving one problem can lead to the solution of other problems such as using the money saved on kerosene for food and other items that make life easier.
One thing I am really impressed about is the fact that Evan developed a design that can be assembled locally in small workshops, providing jobs. For many people, I suspect the thought process would go from problem straight to solution without considering how the solution could be leveraged into helping with an additional problem (lack of jobs). Two thumbs up to him for maximizing the social benefit of this idea.