6 November 2019, Harare – Mobility for Africa has joined the ranks of Expo Live’s network of Global Innovators, receiving their Innovation Impact Grant to help support its efforts to bring solar powered mobility solutions to rural communities, especially women in Africa. The $100,000 grant will contribute to the Zimbabwe-based social enterprise’s efforts to build its evidence base by expanding its existing pilot to include more women, improve off grid energy supply, explore battery technology and build a better shared user model.
As a way to promote Expo 2020 Dubai’s theme connecting minds, creating the future, Expo Live supports projects and solutions from around the world whose solutions generate social and environmental value. By identifying creative projects that can improve lives while preserving our planet, a prominent panel of judges working in innovation, selected Mobility of Africa as one of 52 finalists from a pool of 6,000 applications who had entered the 4th round of competition.
“Seeking to pioneer disruptive change is never easy, especially when you are trying to convince people to invest in rural African women, so having this recognition from Expo Live is a huge boost to our efforts,” said Shantha Bloemen, Mobility for Africa’s founder and Managing Director. “As an early stage African start up, the opportunity to learn from other innovators, be part of the World Expo larger community, and get this type of funding to help us as we build our proof of concept, is invaluable.”
In many parts of rural Africa, neither regular supplies of energy nor petrol are available. This means most transport is expensive, often unreliable, doesn’t reach many rural off-road areas and means people, especially women, spend hours carrying heavy loads and walking long distances. To address this problem, Mobility for Africa, a social enterprise, piloting in Zimbabwe, aims to bring solar powered electric transport solutions to women and their families that are affordable, efficient and adapted to peri-urban and rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We believe tough sturdy renewable energy charged electric bikes and tricycles, backstopped by trained community support services, provide an avenue for small scale farmers to overcome distances to services, tackle gender inequality, contribute to dynamic local economies and enhance livelihoods,” said Bloemen. “The growing availability of low-cost renewable energy, along with the huge investment in battery technology to drive low cost transport, means we have the potential to transform rural areas. Like with the advent of digital technology, Africa can leapfrog its development to benefit from these new technological opportunities and benefit from a green energy powered mobility revolution.”