Farmers in Africa are fighting back against Lions who prey on their livestock.
In rural Africa farmers are at constant risk of loosing their animals at night to Lions and other predators. Predators like Lions hunt at night and common practice to keep them at distance was using a kerosine lantern. These however are very expensive to operate and emit toxic fumes.
A start-up company out of Kenya, M-KOPA Solar has developed a solar light that can help scare off the predators through the power of light. M-Kopa is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. The company’s product is solar powered and poweredby a SIM card allowing automatic billing and control of the lights remotely. Farmers pay a small fee each month to operate the light. However due to the low income in Rural Africa the costs are still quite high for most farmers. The company is working on making the light more affordable for more farmers to add to their farm.
M-KOPA customers pay 40 Kenyan shillings (about 45 cents) per day to use it, after making a 2,500-shilling ($28.38) deposit. That’s relatively steep, considering that most households in Kenya earn less than $2 per day, according to M-KOPA.
Check out the full article on Small Biz Trends website: http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/08/solar-lighting-in-africa-startup.html
Thank you for sharing this amazing story. The potential for LEDs is seemingly endless (and all good!).
Nice article. By now the investment cost for this or similar LED lighting solution should have been dropped to much affordable level. Why they want to pay for operation when all this can be automated, and even the device can incorporate cameras and internet so the service can be totally free?