Uppsala alumn is making life brighter in Somalia
The average amount of sunshine in Somalia is nine hours a day. Meanwhile, 90 percent of the population lacks electricity and must rely on kerosene lamps, posing health and environmental hazards. This is what Uppsala alumn Liibaan Mahamoud wants to change through his company Light Up Somalia. With the help of solar-powered products he hopes to put Somalia on a track towards environmentally friendly energy and job creation in the country.
When the Somali hot days turn into cold nights, darkness is penetrated by the light of kerosene lamps and constant humming of diesel engines. This enables more than nine out of the country's ten million residents to continue keeping shops open, manage households and livestock, or read. But fossil fuels are expensive and also contribute to air pollution and health problems. That cleaner electricity can be obtained was a discovery Liibaan Mahamoud made already as a twelve-year-old back in Mogadishu.
“I remember in 1987 when a Danish aid agency set up four wind turbines in the area where my mom's sister lived. I stopped and just stood there watching, captivated by the wind power that towered around 18 metres above the ground. This was also brought to the municipality where I lived, as well as Westerners carrying solar panels. I thought: "now I've seen wind turbines and solar cells, imagine getting electricity from wind and solar". So I became interested in energy found in and beneficial to my environment”.
Energy studies for entrepreneurship
In the early 1990s, Liibaan Mahamoud moved to Sweden and Uppsala. When the time came to apply to Uppsala University, he chose electrical engineering with the aim of working with renewable energy. After graduating in 2007 from the Bachelor Programme in Electrical Engineering, he took a 60 points distance education course in wind power at Gotland University. In addition to technical skills, the education also gave him the confidence to start a business.
“The programme in electrical engineering included basic economics and gave us opportunities to meet early on with entrepreneurs offering advice and inspiration", he says.
“My mother was also self-employed and traded clothes and food, among other things. I guess my ambition to be independent and run my own business stems from her”.
Bright and sustainable ideas
In 2013, Liibaan Mahamoud returned to Somalia. There he laid the foundation of the company Light Up Somalia, or Iftiimiso, Somali for lighting as well as enlightenment. In Mogadishu, he and three coworkers set up a warehouse with solar lights from the Swedish company Sundaya Nordic AB. The idea is to allow Somalis living abroad to buy solar products to relatives and friends mostly living in rural areas.
“The kit with the solar panel and light bulbs is at a trial stage and costs USD 150 so far. Unlike many of the Chinese products overflowing the country, these lamps are of much better quality”.
His other aim is to recycle and utilize plastic bottles to support solar powered flashlights. The collected bottles are filled with water or sand, a creative solution to the problem of plastic waste.
-In addition we don't have to buy lampstands from China. The idea is to always promote sustainability.
Another partnership is with Swedish Teroc, which has developed a hybrid system to power freezers or refrigerators. The system can also be used to run computers or TV sets, power lights or charge a cell phone. The hope is to combine it with solar and wind power technology.
"The system has been delivered to Mogadishu and we’ve taught a few young people how to run it via Skype. But we want to send even more systems in the future so that more youngsters can get skilled and make this their living”, he says.
Reasons for optimism
Creating jobs is the other important purpose of Light Up Somalia. Women and young people in Somalia will be trained to sell products based on solar cell technology. A start-up program is being planned where Liibaan Mahamoud hopes to cooperate with both Swedish organisations and enterprises.
“One of my strongest motivations is to give something back to Somalia. How can we promote peace, strengthen women's rights, increase equality and safeguard democracy in the country? The country must be rebuilt which calls on the knowledge of me and many others in renewable energy, sustainability, recycling – well, everything”.
To attract investors to a country with a two decade long history of armed conflicts and humanitarian crises can be an uphill struggle. But Liibaan Mahamoud points out that a new political order and several international frameworks for aid have changed the prospects for Somalia. As an example, the Somalia New Deal programme recently held its first international conference at ministerial level in Copenhagen with the purpose to strengthen the country's peace process and reconstruction.
Calls for cooperation on renewable energy
As for Sweden, Sida will invest a total of 1.5 billion SEK on the reconstruction and development of Somalia until 2017. A Somali-Swedish Business program will also be launched with the aim of creating jobs in Somalia. The program is open to all applicants, but targeted mainly to promising enterprises involving Somalis in Sweden who want to establish themselves in the country. The program will start in April 2015.
"The western world now provides support for various initiatives in Somalia. The focus is on how to create jobs, and a large part of the solution lies in investments in renewable energy. Besides solar power, Somalia has excellent wind conditions due to its location on the easternmost end of the Horn of Africa. At the same time, extensive knowledge is required to develop solar and wind maps of the most ideal conditions for solar and wind power. But that knowledge exists at Uppsala University".
More info on Light Up Somalia on Facebook and www.lightupsomalia.com
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Anneli Björkman