The untapped power of 700 million people: How clean energy changes lives

Having left my hometown of Toronto to relocate to Sierra Leone for work, my plane was descending at 1:00 a.m. I quickly pulled up the window shades to peer out and see what my future home would look like.

To my surprise, I saw almost complete darkness, with some spots of light here and there. I thought we must be flying over the Atlantic Ocean, and those were perhaps small islands. As we drew closer, the bright lights that typically line a capital city never appeared. 

Waking up from my sleepiness, I realized we weren't flying over the ocean. What I was seeing — or rather what I wasn't seeing — was the absence of electricity. And that is precisely what had brought me there to Energicity, a solar mini-grid startup. For many of us in the global north, electricity isn't something we think about. You probably flipped open your laptop today without considering whether it would turn on or not or maybe you made yourself a steaming cup of coffee after lunch.

Abundance erases the awareness of privilege. What is everywhere becomes unseen. 

Yet in Sierra Leone, only a third of the population has access to electricity, and that number drops down to just 5 percent in rural communities. Around the world, there are more than 700 million people living without any energy access — with the majority in Sub-Saharan Africa. My life mission is to bring electricity to all 700 million people through the power of renewable energy. 

A month after I settled into Freetown, Putin invaded Ukraine and global fuel prices skyrocketed. I got a text from a friend that said, "I wonder how the ship is going to hold up." I said, "What are you talking about?" And he said, "You don't know about the ship? The one that powers the entire country?"

At this point, I was confused and baffled and what had seemed implausible actually became reality. In 2022, 75 percent of Sierra Leone's electricity demand originated from a single Turkish ship. Let that sink in. Imagine your country being reliant on a single source that is a foreign-owned, private company. And you can probably guess what came next. Due to sanctions on Russian fuel, the ship lost access to its energy source. The entire country of Sierra Leone became dark. For the first time in my life, I had to learn how to live without electricity for weeks. Yet this was a commonplace habit for the people around me. My neighbor Malma had made her whole family's mix of rice and meat stews for the week and — without a refrigerator — she had to throw it all away — a big part of her salary. For my co-workers living on the edge of town, the roads were now empty. There was no more transport to be found on the roads. We couldn't find each other at the offices. We couldn't go see our customers in rural communities. On top of that, our phones ran out of battery power. Our projects ground to a halt. 

Despite these challenges, I found hope: 30 rural communities shone at night. They were hundreds of miles away from the capital city, powered by Energicity's solar mini grids. While Freetown was dark, rural roads glowed. While businesses in the capital had to shut down, farmers and rural communities continued to use their machines to work. And when kids in Freetown had to go to bed a few hours earlier, students in rural villages could study a few hours more into the night. These rural communities accessed the power of renewable energy, becoming completely self-sufficient, shielded from the global fuel crisis. It is from these experiences that I have developed a deep conviction that renewable energy is a win-win-win. 

For communities, it is the foundation for economic prosperity. Traditional grids are complex and expensive, which is why some governments have left millions of people in the dark for decades. With decentralized systems, rural communities can finally use hospitals, buy freezers, and store life-saving vaccines. Farmers can move up the chain to mill the maize that they're growing, and communities can be a little bit safer at night, with fewer traffic accidents and less crime. 

Renewable energy is a win-win-win because for nations, it is a pillar of security. The war in Ukraine rages on, and climate crises have become a pattern. These are no longer rare events. With renewable energy, national leaders can harness the power of the sun, wind, and water within their own borders so that they're no longer reliant on anyone else to power their economies.

Renewable energy is a win-win-win because for our world, it is our chance to leapfrog fossil fuels. Africa is the future of our global economy. The median age is just 19. Renewable energy is Africa’s chance for a clean energy future. The global transition of energy right now is costing $2.1 trillion in 2024 alone. What if Africa could skip all of that? 

With this knowledge, what do we do about it? Investors: We need your capital to scale these solutions into more rural communities. Entrepreneurs: Africa's energy transition is your next business opportunity; we need your innovations to scale last-mile energy distribution and financing for those living below the poverty line. And policymakers: Especially in this moment when global foreign aid infrastructures are being dismantled, we need your voice.

Renewable energy isn't charity. It's not for bleeding-heart environmentalists. It is just smart business.  

But don't take my word for it. Let me show you what happens when we translate this opportunity into action. One afternoon, I met a woman named Mariama. She had an unshakable spirit and an incredible amount of resilience. She survived Ebola as a teenager and is now raising five children. When solar electricity came into her community, she didn't just see light, she saw opportunity. She thought: What if, with this newfound electricity, we could bring in a freezer and sell things such as cold drinks and store perishables such as fish? I helped bring her that freezer, and she made the rest happen. Today, she's the proud owner of a convenience store, earning 25 percent more than she was before. I'll never forget the moment when she told me that she can now finally send her eldest daughter to school.

From the air, the majority of Sierra Leone still looks dark. But on the ground, there are millions more like Mariama who shine through it all. Think about the possibilities when we can bring electricity to 700 million people. Imagine the children we can educate, the businesses we can build, and the future we can create. 

Electricity is spreading across Africa — and with action we won't just witness it, we will ignite it.

Katherine Tang (2024 cohort) is a Knight-Hennessy scholar pursuing an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is deeply passionate about the intersection of climate action and international development. 

This story was first presented as a LOWKeynote speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, featuring ideas that change lives, change organizations, and change the world. 

Knight-Hennessy scholars represent a vast array of cultures, perspectives, and experiences. While we as an organization are committed to elevating their voices, the views expressed are those of the scholars, and not necessarily those of KHS.