Africa’s energy future lies off the grid — GOGLA’s Sarah Malm

As Africa races to close its energy access gap and empower its growing youth population, the off-grid solar sector has emerged as a vital driver of both employment and sustainable development.

In this exclusive interview with BusinessDay’s Abubakar Ibrahim and Faith Esifiho, Sarah Malm, Executive Director of GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry, discusses the inspiration behind the organisation’s Wired-for-Work session at the African Energy Forum (AEF).

She sheds light on how off-grid solar solutions are transforming lives, creating thousands of jobs, and unlocking new economic opportunities across the continent, particularly for young people and women.

What inspired Gogla to organise a wired-for-work session at the African Energy Forum (AEF)?

I’ve been working with the organisers for years and have seen the momentum build around youth employment and youth opportunity in the off-grid sector. We think it’s really important to bring forward both the facts and figures, but also the opportunity for youth to engage.

Take Nigeria, for example. It has one of the largest energy gaps, with about 80 million people who do not have access to electricity. We know that Nigeria, like many countries, is also challenged with youth employment. Off-grid solar already represents a strong pathway forward for youth.

We’ve seen massive growth in employment. In 2018, there were about 4,000 jobs in the off-grid sector in Nigeria. By 2020, there were 30,000 jobs. This includes direct jobs working for a company in distribution, but more importantly, the tremendous jobs created through early access to electricity in things like improving agriculture and in small businesses.

Why is the off-grid solar sector so attractive to young people?

I’m always careful about speaking for the youth, but this is what I hear and what I see. Off-grid really makes sense to young people because it is a standalone technology. It works a lot more like a phone. They want control over their electricity, for it to be mobile.

They would pick up their phone and say, ‘I want control over my electricity.’ These forward-looking models for off-grid are opportunities for owning and controlling your own energy future.

The sector also unlocks tangible, flexible opportunities. For example, in rural Kenya, there is a youth-led employer that uses electric bikes with solar chillers on the back. They go from dairy to dairy, collect products, and bring them to a central distributor. That is something a student can do after school or part-time.

Furthermore, the direct employment within the industry is only going to continue to grow, as there is a high demand for technical skills for installers, distributors, maintenance, and sales.

Could you share your vision for Africa’s green workforce by 2030, particularly in relation to off-grid solar energy?

The underlying foundation for a better-educated, healthier workforce is going to be access to electricity. The fastest and most affordable way to get basic household electricity to the 80 million in Nigeria who currently lack access is through off-grid solar products.

We also see the digital energy nexus. Having electricity co-located with mobile networks is what we call financial inclusion, the ability to be able to participate in online payments. If you wanted to start your own business, you’re going to do it through mobile banking, and you need that basic infrastructure.

Crucially, off-grid solar unlocks a more equitable workforce. We know that about 35 to 40 percent of these jobs go to women. This is true in things like part-time sales and in creating small businesses at home.

How can the DRE sector improve rural livelihoods while advancing national energy goals?

It is a logical and important progression around improving quality of life but also being more productive in the local economy and contributing to the larger economy.

I can give you countless examples. A solar water pump, for example, is portable, durable, and can increase a farmer’s yield by five times.

In the household, moving away from charcoal or wood to clean cooking saves a huge amount of time for women and girls. A phone with mobile banking that you can charge at home unlocks an enormous amount of opportunity and enhances education. It is a link to your clinics for access to medical care.

To fundamentally change and improve lives, particularly in rural environments, basic household electricity is really the driving factor. You don’t need a lot of electricity to transform a life.

How is the off-grid sector in Nigeria supported, and what lessons can be drawn from other countries like Kenya and Rwanda?

National governments sit at the centre of this. They are doing energy planning and making decisions about where to invest. Nigeria has a strong renewable energy agency and good leadership, but there are necessary policy steps.

One, there needs to be the VAT and the import duties and the other regulations there to support solar overall. If you have high import duties on solar panels, that cost is handed over to the consumer.

Two, subsidies need to be used effectively, particularly for the people who cannot afford electricity at all. Off-grid needs to be part of the national government’s energy planning.

Finally, people have to want it. You need to ask your friends and neighbours, ‘What do you want your neighbourhood to sound and smell like in three to five years? Diesel, or a quieter and cleaner place with a more affordable source of electricity?’

The IEA suggests Africa should be investing at least $200 billion annually to improve on energy transition. Can Africa afford this?

It’s a really tough question, but the underlying message is: how much do the governments and the people want to put their own investment towards the green energy future? There is a lot of interest in accessing pension funds, for example, as a source of investment.

The other side is managing the perceived and real risks around inflation and currency devaluation, which makes it harder to attract foreign direct investment. There is a real role for local banks to play in having more loans and smaller loans available in local currency.

The off-grid industry has done a really good job with its pay-as-you-go model, where people pay to own a product over a period of time in small increments. Some even-time payments toward farming cycles, so farmers pay more at harvest time. We need more access to local currency financing to be a real driver for local businesses to thrive.

What role do you see GOGLA playing over the next five years in Africa’s green workforce development?

We’d like to be a driver for two things. One is economic transformation. We want to work effectively with companies, national governments, and consumers to ensure that off-grid products reach the millions of people who need them. Two, in terms of workforce development, we want to make sure we are capturing the data and feeding that back to national governments so that they see that off-grid solar is not just an economic driver; it’s a job creator, particularly for youth.

If you could give a message to African policymakers and investors going forward, what would your message be?

To African policymakers, the future is off-grid. We need the policies and the regulations to support the private sector to work collaboratively with national governments to make sure that the off-grid sector thrives in their countries.

And to investors, we need to make sure that we have financing in local currency and that we have the terms that off-grid companies are able to meet. They need more tailored financial solutions and more patient capital because they are providing products and electricity to some of the hardest-to-reach communities.