Rwanda’s Mobile Charging Kiosk Wants To Put An End To Energy Woes Plus Poverty

Rwanda’s Henri Nyakarundi founded ARED (African Renewable Energy Distributor) to give renewable energy solutions to the public and private sectors in his home country, after failing to find anywhere to charge his phone number, little did he know the idea will ever cross the border.

But now aiming at launching in Kenya and across the East African region, his Mobile Charging Kiosk dubbed Sharja Vuba is set to help thousands who are not connected to grip electricity with alternative energy from solar power and photovoltaic technology.

His firm African Renewable Energy Distributor Ltd based in Rwanda offers renewable energy solutions for both small-scale and large scale partners. The firm develops their own tech from ground up with a focus on green technology.

ARED’s first product, the Sharja Vuba, a solar energy mobile charging Kiosk aims to be one stop shop for telcos so as their clients can buy and use it to charge their cell phones, sell airtime, cell phones, LED lights and do mobile money transfers.
Users can also use the Kiosk to earn more money by offering it up for advertisement as several brands believe in outdoor advertisement. Apart from earning extra money, firms or users of the kiosks can also use them to educate the public on the renewable energy among others.

The Kiosk’s are not for sale, ARED leases them out to anyone willing, then in partnership with telcos, the business becomes a mobile money agents, sells telcos phones, airtime and accessories and charges phones for clients especially those that are not served by grid power.

The firm is also looking for other firms apart from telcos to sell their products through the kiosks. His hope is on the increasing use of mobile phones in Africa now over 600 million and growing by the day, with inadequate electricity.

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