- Tonye Irims WiSolar is embarking on an ambitious project to empower 1000 solar engineers across South Africa
- WiSolar was recently listed by Futurology as one of the 15 most innovative Johannesburg based renewable energy companies and startups
- WiSolar is a pan-African clean alternative energy company providing business and residential prepaid solar electrification to South Africans
Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.”–Reed Markham
The description above best fits Tonye Irims, the Nigerian CEO and founder of WiSolar, a renewable energy start-up who is running with an ambitious goal of empowering a thousand individuals in South Africa.
According to a Bloomberg report, despite South Africa being the most industrialised economy in Africa, the rate of joblessness has been over 20% for about two decades, with a projection that it is likely to reach 38.6% by 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This narrative can only change if South Africans are empowered with valuable and employable skills. And this is exactly what the Nigerian-born and South Africa based entrepreneur has set out to do with his renewable energy company, WiSolar.
There is a dearth of skilled solar engineers who have practical knowledge of the solar engineering space and that was the case with Donald before he joined WiSolar.
With a commendable knowledge of electrical engineering, all Donald needed was the right environment to nurture his skills for employability. He had an unrelenting curiosity about sustainable and eco-friendly power generation methods. But there was a knowledge gap between theoretical electrical engineering and practical solar engineering that needed to be filled.
In 2019, Donald Nyathi joined WiSolar and was put through practical hands-on training on solar engineering and electrification. Two years later, he was fit to join the effective and active service of the company.
“There is a learning opportunity every day at the company; an opportunity to work with different clients and leverage an environment where teamwork, personal and career growth are a priority. I began active service in 2021 after joining in 2019, and working as a solar engineer at WiSolar has been a fantastic experience.” Donald revealed.
An audacious ambition
The above is the scenario Tonye is looking to replicate with an audacious goal of empowering 1000 individuals to become highly skilled solar engineers.
According to him, there are many more individuals like Donald who simply need an opportunity to be properly tutored on the skills needed to become a solar engineer.
“There are many more people like Donald that we are creating this opportunity for to address the skills shortage in solar engineering in South Africa. Currently, we have about 40 trained engineers with another 50 in reserve nationwide.
“We will be investing heavily in their training and development. In-house and on-site training, solar training courses, sponsored solar conferences, and business-customer relationship management skills are some of the opportunities made available to these engineers.” Mr. Irims said, while speaking on the intention of the company.
Drawing from personal experience
Irims appears to be drawing inspiration from his personal experience several years ago when he started out as an entrepreneur.
In 2017, he was a struggling entrepreneur, struggling to keep his solar energy company, WiSolar, afloat. Despite all his efforts, they had secured only three clients by the end of the first year of business, and he was ready to give it all up.
He put the company and its products up for sale at the cost of 120,000 rand, but the problem was that no one agreed to buy.
A year later, luck smiled on him. WiSolar went ahead to raise $4000 in seed capital, and that began the journey to becoming a major solar energy company.
As a pan-African company, it runs with a mission to give every household unhindered access to electricity while promoting sustainable living by eradicating pollution caused by other power-generating methods. It helps users save about 70% on their electricity bill every month.
It is currently the largest residential solar electricity company in South Africa, with solar installers and channel partners in every province of South Africa.
About 3000 customers in South Africa have approximately 9MW of decentralised clean solar electricity installed at their residences. And the company plans to deliver up to 80MW of solar power across residential developments in South Africa over the next four years. As of January 2022, WiSolar began deployment of low-cost prepaid solar electricity for variable loads to homes in South Africa.
Still, there is room for highly effective solar engineers that fit WiSolar’s ethos and are willing to learn and grow.
The ultimate goal for SA engineers and South Africa…
“At WiSolar, highly trained solar engineers play critical roles in the kind of users’ experience we create for our customer base in South Africa. To achieve our goals through them, we need to provide them with employable skills that extend beyond our company.
“So, as you can see, we don’t just want them to be useful to WiSolar alone. If that’s the case, our role in dealing with South Africa’s growing unemployment rate is defeated. We want to nurture their skills and experiences such that when they choose to move on, they won’t return to being redundant.
“Mind you, we are not only focused on male engineers in our hiring and training processes. Gender inclusion is the foundation of this mission and anyone is pre-qualified as long as the person’s interest and preferences match the available opportunity,” the founder explained.
As WiSolar aims to contribute to job creation in South Africa for solar engineers, especially those with the lowest employment prospects, this is projected to reduce the unemployment rate and promote economic growth.
Ultimately, this will, in no small measure, contribute to reducing unemployment and other social vices heavily inspired by joblessness. By doing this, Tonye Irims is also proudly flying the Nigerian flag high in the sky.
