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WeFocus On Indigenous Women In Solving Energy Problems — Sandra Chukwudozie, CEO, Salpha Energy

We focus on indigenous women in solving energy problems — Sandra Chukwudozie, CEO, Salpha Energy

SANDRA Chukwudozie is currently the CEO, Salpha Energy, a renewable energy company that focuses on solar solutions that can enable homes and businesses in rural and urban areas have access to clean energy.

She worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization as a Sustainable Development Consultant before starting her own business. Her focus is on clean energy and energy efficiency in industrial development for developing countries. She made significant contributions in mobilising and coordinating political support to the office in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development when she worked in the Office of the Director for the General Assembly and ECOSOC Affairs Division at the United Nations Headquarters. It was during this time that she got to be mentored by globally renowned professionals.

What informed your interest in renewable energy?

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My vision was to go into the oil and gas sector. I was fortunate to start my career with the United Nations in New York in 2015 when the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs were launched. I learnt that energy needs to be clean, modern, affordable, reliable and sustainable; to reach those people who do not have access to it and take away energy poverty. That mindset changed me completely and made me want to transition into clean energy. I was also inspired by lots of Nigerian women like Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group; and some other women who were talking about clean energy and why Africa needs to embrace it.

I decided to leave my career at the UN to come to Nigeria to set up this solar energy business. The excitement was also to see how I can bring young entrepreneurs who could work with me to actualise my vision.

What are the challenges in the Niger-Delta?

The issue with the Niger- Delta is the fact that the area generates lots of revenue for the country, yet we have the most impoverished people there. Their land is destroyed, women do not have proper jobs. We want to make sure that these people who have been forgotten and deprived of their oil wealth, are being taken care of.

We will ensure that their children have the quality of life that does not endanger their health. There are women who are living in the riverine areas who do not have access to quality medical care. Most of the hospitals do not have access to power to store vaccines, medical equipment and the issue around women is the fact that they are the most vulnerable. Most of the girls go on the streets at nights and are raped; we have seen this issue happen even in IDP camps that we deploy this solution to. These solutions help to transform the environment and the people are happy to go about their daily activities.

How deliberate are you in engaging more women in the renewable energy sector?

Basically, we have over 75 per cent women in the business. They are both direct and indirect employees and that consists of our staff, sales representatives, installers, distributors, customer care representatives, among others.

Our focus is to bring more women who are indigenous in their thinking and solving energy problems. We have a gender quota and we want to make sure that the effort is balanced. We also reach out to different associations of women, especially in engineering and technology.

Clean energy is not totally new but it is more pronounced now that Nigeria as a country, is lamenting the unavailability of power supply as well as hike in price of cooking gas. What is the challenges you encounter when it comes to government policies?

The biggest challenge is financing. Because it is a new industry, lots of financing comes in to ensure that the players are well supported. It can come in form of subsidy, grants and loans, among others but these opportunities are missing because people are used to other industries within the energy space which is the oil and gas that is booming.

Therefore, government can bring in subsidies into the industry to ensure that companies are able to compete fairly with other stakeholders.
There is need for government to subsidize solar to enhance value chain. In the last clean energy meeting, COP 26, held some weeks ago, there were calls for us to transition to clean energy.

Tariffs need to be waived. We want to make sure that the household needs are met without struggle.

In what areas are stakeholders advocating for clean energy policy?

There are clean energy policies that are available from minigrid electrification. There is a project by the World Bank called the Nigeria Electrification Project to ensure that companies are mobilised in the private sector to deploy solar home systems of different solutions and when you have been verified and the minigrid is installed, you are given a result-based grant.
Our policies are there but they need to be sharpened. How do we increase the ease of doing business? How do we make these industries attractive not only to national players but for international financiers to come in? Implementation of these policies is what we all should fight for.

Is there a discussion already by the key players to ensure the implementation of these policies?

All On works with a UN body called Sustainable Energy for All and they published a report that speaks about localizing the solar value chain in Nigeria. In that report, they looked at components of solar home system or minigrid to see how these products can be made in Nigeria at a competitive cost. So, this dialogue has been circulated globally across the UN system, the World Bank and other global bodies and the ministries were involved in the sharing of the report. This kind of advocacy which the World Bank, African Development Bank, AfDB and All On, are doing goes into helping the industry to progress and become scalable.

For the common man on the street, how accessible is renewable energy?

A common man on the street whose income is between N70, 000 to N100, 000 and needs to light up his home, charge his phone, power his fan, watch television, just needs a solar solution with as low as N100,000 to N200,000. You just need to pay a deposit of N30,000 and pay installment of three, six or 12 months depending on the budget. It is for those who cannot afford upfront payment.
We deployed this type of solution in Akwa-Ibom State and the payment was done within 12 months. This helped to beat our sales target by nine months.

What effort is in place to curtail fire outbreaks, especially from cooking gas?

Fire outbreaks are around fossil fuel. If we transition into solar energy, you are guaranteed of a safer way of consuming energy.

Tell us about the deal you signed with All On recently…

The deal with All On is the $1million investment that is supposed to help Salpha Energy to scale its deployment of solar home systems across Nigeria and the plan is that we are focusing on the areas where people do not have access to energy, for instance, Niger-Delta area. These people are the ones that have the most to gain and the most to lose from access to clean energy. We are also working with distributors to expand our services and businesses in the Nigerian market.

What are your plans to scale the business?

We will be opening at least between 10 to 12 retail outlets in Nigeria including the South-South, South-East, South-West, North- Central and North-West.

We had a project with All On, with the US African Development Fund, USADF. That was a project to deploy 2000 solar home systems at the entry-level. It lasted for a year and six months. The aim of the project is to help people especially women in that area to have experience with clean energy instead of using kerosene. We finished the project nine months beyond schedule which is an important breakthrough for us to be able to scale this solution quickly. The challenge is that in solar energy, you do not see enough solar products in key marketplaces and we are trying to make sure that these products are visible and they are of good quality.

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