Kafayat Ajiboye, Solar Sister Entrepreneur in western Nigeria, is usually quiet during the monthly Solar Sister sisterhood meetings, rarely speaking up. When she does speak, her passion and enthusiasm for her business and bringing clean energy to her community shine through. Kafayat carries a vision deep inside, fueling her drive.
A few years ago, Solar Sister Project Manager for Nigeria, Chinenye Anekwe, met Kafayat at a sisterhood meeting and saw her enthusiasm. She wanted to encourage her and asked her about her challenges and goals for her business. She shared with Chinenye her ideas and plans to work in an area where power was not available.
Kafayat works for the Ministry of Commerce as a clerk. During her lunch hour and after work, she would go around the office talking to people, telling them about solar energy and the importance of clean energy. Because of her small salary at the ministry, she was eager to launch a business. Kafayat explained to Cheinenye and her Business Development Associate, Aminat Salami, that she wanted to expand her business to an area in her state that had no energy. Together they looked up product fairs in the area, put out flyers, and made other marketing efforts. Still, Kafayat needed the capital to purchase products to sell. She needed more inventory.
During the worst of the Covid-19 crisis, Kafayat did not turn her back on her business as others did. She dug in, looked for new strategies, and kept moving forward.
Kafayat realized that to achieve her dream, she had to get serious. With guidance from Solar Sister, she registered her business and prepared a business plan for the expansion she envisioned. She pulled together enough money to open a bank account and was accepted into the Solar Sister Business Booster program. This would help her structure her business from an informal to a formal structured business and add support.
The Solar Sister Business Booster is for entrepreneurs who want to go to the next level. The program enhances the entrepreneur’s training that she received in her initial year as an entrepreneur. It includes product loans to expand her business, more peer-to-peer support, advanced mentorship, and marketing help. The Business Booster builds upon the base that is set in the first year of training.
A month into the Business Booster program, Kafayat was selected to apply for a Shine Campaign award. The Shine Campaign supports, funds, and invests in clean, distributed energy solutions for the world’s most marginalized communities. She submitted her business plan to the Shine Campaign.
There were back and forth revisions. Kafayat worked on her plan, rewriting it five times before it was accepted. Country Director Olasimbo Sojinrin and CEO Katherine Lucey read over her final submission – all this operating in two languages – Yoruba and English and back again. From her Business Development Associate Aminat to CEO Katherine Lucey, Kafayat’s mentors saw her determination and grit. They saw the persistence that moved her out of her comfort zone to stretch herself.
“I saw an entrepreneur who saw a future for her business. She had an expansion plan. She had the future of her business at heart. It was not just business for survival,” Chinenye said. “Kafayat told me, ‘I want to go to those places. The people living there need power.’ She did her homework. She put in the effort. I saw a woman that went from the level of survival to the level of a vision.”
From a pool of over 264 submissions, 12 recipients from Africa and Asia have been selected as awardees of the COVID-19 Recovery Fund. The entire team celebrated when it was announced that Kafayat was awarded one of the 12 recipients! Now the journey begins.