July 30, 2019
Enlight founder Jay Patel on how the Enlight Institute is improving employment options for rural youth and speeding up sustainable solar adoption in East Africa
The idea of a traveling solar academy, now known as the Enlight Institute, came about thanks to the vision and coordinated efforts of several people. And a couple of lucky encounters.
In 2015, on my first trip to Uganda, I was so inspired by Village Energy’s CEO Abu Musuuza that I soon found myself moving to Uganda to help him relaunch his company around a new distribution model for solar repair services. Little did I know then that this was the seed of what would become the Enlight Institute.
As we were working, I soon realized that the lack of human capital for solar salespeople and technicians wasn’t just a company-specific need but an industry-wide issue. In fact, the lack of qualified solar technicians was holding back sustainable solar adoption across the whole of East Africa!
Six of those first students subsequently got work on a major on-grid solar installation, and we knew we were onto something. I convinced Abu to bring Ania on as Director of Training for Village Energy, with the long-term goal of launching the academy as a separate institution. We began to build towards our goal of launching the academy.
Our solar technical curriculum will be used by Uganda’s Directorate of Industrial Training for national certification of solar technicians through stakeholder workshops with dozens of solar companies and industry stakeholders.
However, our vision is much bigger than just trainings: we want to revolutionize the way students are assessed for employability, moving beyond test scores and grades to a more holistic yet quantifiable assessment of their skills and behaviors.
We’re using our trainings as a laboratory to test our curriculum and assessments that, if successful, could scale globally. The continued support of Signify Foundation is crucial; as a founding partner we truly could not have done it without them.
I’m excited to grow together to help reshape the human capital landscape for solar across East Africa and beyond.
And on a personal note, it’s amazing to think that what started as an idea over three years ago is a reality on the ground. One that has already impacted the lives of dozens of youth, with the potential to reach so many more.
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