Akon is best known for his unwavering contributions to music. Now, the singer/songwriter is pushing the envelope with a huge philanthropic initiative that has been granted $1 billion in funding. Aliaune Thiam, better known as Akon, is the co-founder of Akon Lighting Africa, a company that provides solar lighting to rural areas across Africa. Akon Lighting Africa was able to strategically convince African political circles on how essential solar lighting was to their communities. Thus, creating a demand for the Chinese that produces solar equipment. Over the years, solar technology in China had hit a dead end due to tariffs which made it impossible for Chinese producers to sell its equipment to the U.S.. With the emergence of solar lighting in Africa, Akon’s vision was cosigned by the China Jiangsu International Group. CJIG is a Nanjing-based construction firm that has previously provided solar power in countries like Sudan, Namibia, and Angola. Thanks to CJIG, Akon Lighting Africa is now equipped with a credit line up to $1 billion to use toward their massive solar energy project. With solar lighting installed in many rural areas, households and businesses will see substantial financial growth. So far, Akon Lighting Africa has installed lighting in 14 countries and provided power to 1 million households. Read more HERE… To assist with educational and technical training on solar energy, Akon will also launch the first ever Solar Academy in Africa. The academy will help develop skills and expertise in this field by providing professional training to future African entrepreneurs, engineers and technicians. Solar Academy will open its doors this summer in Bamako, Mali. Akon will follow-up Akon Lighting Africa with other initiatives, which will include: Akon Building Africa (infrastructure), Akon Healing Africa (hospitals), Akon Feeding Africa (agriculture) and, Akon Teaching Africa (education). For more information, visit www.akonlightingafrica.com.
