You may know Grammy Nominated and Platinum selling artist Akon as a global icon; But he multi-talented musician has been on a journey to light Africa. He plans to bring light to the entire continent by providing electricity with solar energy. This may be a tall task, but Akon is certainly up for it.

Akon launched the Akon Lighting Africa initiative in 2014. After receiving a reported 1 billion dollar line of credit from Chinese manufactures. This idea sparked as a result of Akon’s humble beginnings. The artist and entrepreneur states that the town he grew up in, Kaolack Region of Senegal, did not have electricity. In 2013 he decided he was going to make a change in the continent by providing a resource he grew up without.

In this day and age, it is hard to imagine some live day to day without basic resources such as light, water, food, and shelter. But unfortunately, that is the reality for many. Some have restrictions to those resources while others are 100% without.  

Since the project launch in 2014, Solektra is actively providing electricity in 14 African countries and employs 5,000 people. The countries the initiative is active include Mali, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Benin, Guinea Equatorial, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Namibia, Madascar, Kenya and Nigeria.

Despite the great work Akon has already done, he has no plans on stopping here. To find more information on how to get involved with the movement go to http://akonlightingafrica.com/

For more information on how the initiative was founded click the link below