Africa Needed Power Yesterday. The Grid Needed Another Decade. We Chose Africa

Africa Needed Power Yesterday. The Grid Needed Another Decade. We Chose Africa keynote by Jonathan Lule, Founder and MD of bPOWERd.

Jonathan opens with the human cost of energy poverty – a personal story about his mother’s burns from a kerosene lamp accident – before laying out how bPOWERd is rethinking electricity access across Africa. Rather than waiting on traditional grid expansion, which took the US 78 years to complete, bPOWERd delivers clean power through solar-powered battery rental, tracked and managed via IoT and apps, so customers pay for power as an outcome rather than owning equipment or a grid connection.

Highlights include
🔥 Jonathan’s mother suffered severe burns from a kerosene lamp accident – a personal reminder that energy poverty causes real, life-altering harm.
🏙️ Lagos’ explosive urban growth is outstripping grid capacity, pushing millions toward polluting diesel generators.
🚧 Over half of urban Africans live in informal settlements that can’t legally connect to the grid, forcing dangerous, makeshift power connections.
🌿 The “Four Ds” – Decarbonization, Digitization, Decentralization, Democratization – frame bPOWERd’s approach to sustainable energy.
📱 IoT-tracked solar batteries cut theft and build customer trust, letting bPOWERd operate reliably in informal markets.
⚡ The model reframes electricity as a rental outcome, not a fixed connection — customers rent power when they need it and return batteries when they don’t.
⏳ The US took 78 years to fully electrify – Africa’s 1.2 billion people can’t wait that long, making alternatives like bPOWERd’s urgent rather than optional.

Africa Tech Summit London 2026 celebrated its landmark 10th edition on May 29th at The London Stock Exchange. Bringing together leading industry players, the summit explored the latest trends and insights in technology and business across Africa and beyond.

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