![]() ![]() In her resolve to reach more off-grid communities, Green Scene explored the government-backed pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) business model in the solar sector. Like a true entrepreneur, Rekik is always looking for solutions. “And that’s still just the beginning," says Rekik, for a country where 56 percent of the population has no access to electricity. While competition from more affordable, but lower quality solar panels, limited growth of the company.ĭespite these challenges, Green Scene has served over 8,000 households to date. Partnering with six of them, initial challenges such as expanding reach were overcome, but branches were still very far removed from truly rural populations. Green Scene then improved its business model in partnership with microfinance institutions (MFIs). They then explored working with retailers for distribution, but that also hit a snag as most retailers did not have the financial resources to expand their reach. ![]() Their initial strategy was to distribute the product directly to their target population however, they quickly realized it was too costly for a small company like theirs. Her company has had to test different solar devices and distribution channels. “Setting up my own business has not been an easy journey” Rekik says. Increasing access to energy and working to close the gender energy gap exemplifies to UNCDF’s Women Builders of Digital Economies approach to Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment. This can help ensure they have safe access to electricity, which can reduce indoor pollution (for cooking), reduce workloads (collecting fuel), and provide income-generating opportunities. Her vision is to empower clients, especially women who are the domestic heads, with access to solar energy. Starting from scratch: Green Scene EnergyĪnd so, five years ago, Rekik started her own company, Green Scene Energy, to provide affordable, high-quality solar-powered electrification to off-grid communities. That solution was ensuring villages across Ethiopia have access to affordable, reliable, and clean sources of electricity. From that moment, Rekik knew she had to become part of the solution. It tore at her heart that something as essential as electricity, readily available in the city, was a life and death situation for women elsewhere. She was a member of the team from the company installing solar panels for the health facility. ![]() Rekik Bekele, a young female electrical engineer, witnessed the scene that day. It is a common occurrence for health facilities in off-grid communities to lack the electricity they need to operate safely or refrigerate vital medications. While some dashed in various directions looking for torchlights, others instantly put on their phone torches to provide some semblance of visibility for the woman as she gave birth. The nurses at the facility immediately sprang into action. In another village, Koda, in Southwestern Ethiopia-Kefa Zone, as darkness fell, several women came running to the health facility screaming for help as a woman went into labour. As a result, many of the homes began to invest in new steel roofs, earning the village its name ‘Korkoro Sefer', meaning Steel Roof Village. Drawing strength from this tragedy, the woman and her village were determined never to let a similar fate befall others. The woman was out looking after their cattle. However, in Warga village, it is a grim reminder of how one woman lost her sleeping daughter when her thatch-roofed house caught fire. ![]() Normally, the use of steel roofs is celebrated as progress. In Ethiopia's Amhara Region-West Gojam zone, Warga, a small village is known for its steel roofs rather than thatched ones over its mud houses. ![]()
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