Africa’s economic growth and quality of life are hindered by a lack of power. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that over 585 million people across the continent lack access to power. That’s where Solar Sister comes in. Since 2009, Solar Sister has empowered a network of women clean energy entrepreneurs. With light comes hope and opportunity. Using an Avon-style distribution model, Solar Sister recruits and supports women to sell affordable solar lighting in an effort to create clean energy access and help them these women gain a steady income. Ayiba’s Akinyi Ochieng spoke to Solar Sister’s Director of Engagement, Caroline Mailloux, about Solar Sister’s sustainable approach to women’s empowerment and clean energy.

How did your founder, Katherine Lucey, make the leap from investment banking to working on solving the issue of energy poverty?

Katherine has always had a passion for energy and women’s empowerment. She spent more than twenty years as an investment banker focused in the energy sector and retired after the arrival of her fifth child and growing discontent that the sector was no longer doing good work and was too heavily focused on making money.