A few days ago I attended a talk by Ellen Morris, the president of Sustainable Energy Solutions, a small company that has been promoting modern energy as a means to reduce poverty for over 10 years and is connecting solar energy companies and microfinance institutions in developing countries.
She is also a friend’s boss, and the person who got him to spend his time traveling between Africa, India and Center America consulting for the United Nations while helping people in those countries to build themselves sustainable businesses related to solar energy that notably improve their life conditions.
One of the examples they mentioned was a little solar powered lamps rental business that is allowing villagers in India to have (clean) light to work on their textiles at night, while their children study.
It’s really interesting to hear Jacob’s stories about Africa and the many needs they have, and even though some of them refer to technological development and infrastructure, it’s fascinating to talk about how mobile phones are pervasive even in developing countries and they could be the key to speed up and smooth many daily life activities. A simple text message mobile stock control application could save hours of traveling across villages to business owners, for example.
Being passionate about mobile applications as I am, I would love to have the chance to be on the field helping them out…