At just 27 years old, Liberty Bitrus is one of the youngest women entrepreneurs to join Solar Sister. Liberty’s journey with us began through the Changemakers Innovation Challenge grant from the Act Foundation, which Solar Sister received in October 2023.
Liberty’s entrepreneurial spirit was recognized when a community leader approached her to recommend twenty-five women for the Solar Sister program. Without hesitation, Liberty included her own name in the list. After successfully navigating all the selection phases, she earned her place in the program.
Before joining Solar Sister, Liberty assisted her husband, Bitrus John, a full-time farmer. Liberty now sees herself as a problem solver and making an impact by providing energy solutions to people in her community.
“My life has improved after joining Solar Sister, I now have something to keep me busy, and I hardly go out of cash.”
Liberty attributes the Solar Sister monthly training she has received in helping manage her finances and set clear business goals. Looking ahead, Liberty plans to invest her profits in purchasing and storing grains to sell during times of scarcity. She believes it is crucial for women to work with Solar Sister because “only women understand the pain of energy poverty.”
Liberty markets her products by visiting markets and meeting people in groups to promote her offerings. She says that her customers especially appreciate the Mobiya Lite, her best-selling product, which features an external panel and can charge phones at a lower cost. This product is particularly relevant in her community, where access to electricity is limited and charging phones can be expensive. The Mobiya Lite provides a cost-effective and sustainable solution to this problem.
Liberty takes great pride in her work and says,
“My proudest moment is when I sell all my products in cash. It makes me very happy.”
The ACT Foundation sponsors the Changemakers Innovation Challenge grant aimed at recognizing and supporting the remarkable efforts of non-profits, businesses, and social enterprises in Africa that are utilizing technology and digital tools to foster social change within their communities. Evidence suggests that organizations employing these digital means to spearhead projects and community development are advancing and establishing a sustainable impact.
This initiative welcomed applications from non-profits and social enterprises throughout Africa that are employing innovative technological and digital strategies to develop social solutions.
Solar Sister’s project aims to recruit, train, and support fifty new women entrepreneurs and provide business digital skills training to seventy women entrepreneurs across ten communities in Taraba, Benue, and Nassarawa States in Nigeria. Solar Sister is tackling the widening digital gap faced by women entrepreneurs in remote areas through the introduction of a Digital Literacy Program.
This program equips these entrepreneurs with the necessary knowledge, skills, confidence, and technological tools (both hardware and software) needed to digitize and expand their businesses. The training will encompass various key areas, including online marketing, digital sales strategies, gathering customer data digitally, electronic bookkeeping, and navigating new social media platforms. Designed to complement Solar Sister’s existing curriculum, these modules will be integrated into the broader training framework to benefit a larger number of entrepreneurs. The initiative targets twenty current and fifty prospective women entrepreneurs, aiming to enhance their business operations through digital empowerment significantly.
Solar Sister was the first-place winner among the three Changemakers Innovation Challenge winners selected for grant funding and announced in October 2023. This financial support is designated for the expansion of their innovative solutions into various communities.
Reporting on the Changemaker Innovation Challenge is Oisereime Lloyd, Communications Manager, Solar Sister Nigeria