Superstar Akon announces his Akon Lighting Africa initiative at the United Nations headquarters

Senegalese-American pop singer Akon, whose Akon Lighting Africa initiative aims to bring electricity to some of the 600 million Africans who currently lack it, announced the launch of a new “Solar Academy” for the people of Africa.

The institution, scheduled to open this summer in Mali, will train African engineers and entrepreneurs with the skills needed to develop solar-powered electricity systems and micro grids. Training equipment and programs will be supplied by European angel investors.

Harnessing solar energy is an ideal way to enable those Africans without electricity to get it since Africa has 320 days of sunshine a year. Samba Baithily co-founder of Akon Lighting Africa said,

“We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise.”

The group announced the launch of the academy at the second United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum in New York last week, in support of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG’s) and Post 2015 Agenda.