Triumph Against Odds episode 4: Chinwe Udo-Davis on uberizing Africa’s solar workforce
Chinwe Udo-Davis has spent the past few years building Instollar, a platform that connects vetted solar technicians across Nigeria to companies and customers in need of installations and maintenance. What began as a radical idea, “Who will climb the roof?”, has grown into a network of more than 1,300 installers and a model that aims to turn the continent’s clean-energy transition into millions of green jobs.
On this episode of Triumph Against Odds we spoke with Chinwe about how her upbringing shaped her leadership, the early doubts she faced, the practical work of “uberizing” the solar workforce, and what comes next.
How did your upbringing shape who you are and the work you do today?
That’s quite an interesting question. Sometimes I actually reflect on it myself, how did I stumble into this work? I grew up in a Nigerian town where energy poverty, youth unemployment and hardship were normal. I was raised by a single mother, a model of resilience. She taught herself, empowered herself and insisted her children get an education. That determination became my foundation.
Seeing the daily struggles of women and young people left a mark. I wanted to be part of the solution, not simply observe the problem. Instollar grew from that desire: to give young people, especially women, a pathway into the green economy, to help them earn a living and bring reliable energy to communities that need it. My upbringing also shaped my leadership: I hire young people, mostly Gen Z, and I’m committed to paying forward the chance my mother fought for.
What’s one small, maybe overlooked trait that defines how you run teams and companies?
Resilience. Plain and simple. Once I commit to something, I push until it’s done. Starting Instollar was incredibly difficult, bootstrapping, convincing partners, building trust. But the refusal to give up is baked into how I lead. If I tell you we will deliver a project, we will deliver it. That mindset trickles through the team.
You launched Instollar into a market focused on hardware and finance. When did you know the idea could work?
There were times I felt like a lone voice. People discussed panels, batteries and loans, rarely the people who install and maintain the systems. But I had worked inside solar multinationals and seen the gap: no formal training pipelines, a fragmented installer market, quality and safety issues. I kept asking, “Who will climb the roof?”
Several global reports, from institutions like IRENA and the ILO, began to highlight green jobs as a major employment opportunity in Africa. That external validation reinforced what I’d already seen on the ground. The first real proof came from our pilots: when companies trusted our vetted installers and customers saw quality work, the model began to prove itself. Today, the traction is undeniable, the demand for trained, accountable technicians is growing fast.
You’ve worked in big corporations and now run a lean startup. What belief did you have to let go of to succeed as a founder?
Comfort. I’d been a C-level executive once and enjoyed the perks and stability. Entrepreneurship required me to surrender that. I bootstrapped with my savings, paid salaries out of pocket at times, and reinvented myself. It was uncomfortable, but necessary. I had to embrace scarcity and uncertainty as tools rather than obstacles.
Were there moments when you nearly gave up? What kept you going?
Absolutely, multiple times. Building a gig model for technical work was novel, and convincing both installers and companies that it could work was exhausting. We redesigned processes again and again. But two things kept us going: the evidence of impact and the people. We found rural installers who otherwise would have been invisible. We connected small businesses and farmers to clean power and saw technicians retained as full-time staff after placements. Those human stories, a woman gaining a steady job, a village keeping lights on, kept me determined.
Vetting is everything. Like ride-hailing platforms, companies must trust the person they dispatch. We built a rigorous vetting system that assesses technical skills, traceability and accountability. The checks are detailed, we identify gaps and tailor training to close them. That quality assurance builds trust: companies feel confident assigning projects across distances because they know the installer has been verified.
We also track work remotely and provide tools that improve transparency between customer, company and installer. The tech is only useful when paired with robust field processes; we designed both.
What have you been postponing as founder, and why?
Geographic expansion. From early on, firms operating across Africa asked us to scale to other countries. But we deliberately held off because we wanted to master Nigeria first, refine the model, prove processes, understand our unit economics. With international investors now supporting us, we’re preparing for measured expansion into East Africa. You can’t scale what you haven’t perfected.
You’ve trained hundreds of technicians and completed thousands of projects on thin margins. How do you keep morale high when resources are tight?
Focus on impact. We haven’t prioritized profit at the earliest stage because adoption mattered more. Seeing people’s lives change keeps the team energized, installers getting steady work, women retained by companies, clinics and farmers receiving reliable power. The environmental upside, fewer unnecessary trips, lower CO₂, also motivates us.
On the practical side, transparency helps: the team understands tradeoffs, where we invest and why. Celebrating small wins, a technician’s first successful job, a client testimonial, goes a long way.
If you knew you couldn’t fail, what bold move would you make for Africa’s clean-energy future?
Scale this model to hundreds of thousands of workers and broaden it beyond solar into the full clean-energy ecosystem. The transition requires many skills: energy efficiency, mini-grids, appliances, batteries, even emerging clean fuels.
If we could create a continent-wide marketplace of vetted clean-energy professionals, millions of young Africans could earn reliable livelihoods while accelerating access to clean energy. That, to me, would be the boldest move.
What would the next chapter of your story be called, and what is it about?
“Against All Odds.” The narrative begins with a girl in the Niger Delta walking kilometers to school and ends with that same girl founding a tech company that’s transforming how clean energy reaches people.
It’s about resilience, improbable connections and a stubborn belief that practical solutions can unlock both livelihoods and climate gains.
What practical advice would you give young people who want to enter the green economy?
Start with skills, not titles. Learn a trade, get hands-on experience, then build your network. If I could tell my younger self one thing, maybe it would be to save more while bootstrapping, entrepreneurship demands runway. But mostly, don’t be afraid to pivot: my background in French, HR and project management all fed into this work. The green sector rewards curiosity and the ability to learn quickly.
A lighter question, a hidden talent and how you relax?
I have a knack for bringing order to chaos. I can walk into a disorganized situation, map the processes and simplify them. It’s why building Instollar’s workflows suits me.
Relaxation is rare but real: I love cooking, swimming and walking while listening to podcasts. My daughter teases me that I don’t have hobbies, I just work, but cooking genuinely decompresses me.
What would surprise the Chinwe who once worked at Watford Football Club about Chinwe today?
That she runs a tech company. I studied French, not engineering, and yet here I am leading a clean-tech startup recognized regionally. It’s a reminder that backgrounds don’t limit outcomes. If you can picture something and put in the work, you can make it real.
This is an abridged version of the podcast, the full version can be watched on YouTube or listened to on Spotify
