Lighting up Lagos - Akon, ft. Laurence KC

I have just returned from Lagos, Nigeria, working with the local community to power a soccer field at the Federal College of Education. 100 tiles beneath the pitch surface harness the energy from players to light surrounding floodlights. Africa has huge issues around access to energy; currently, the whole area is pitch black at night, and the college runs entirely off diesel generators.  The project shows how the energy mix of the future will combine kinetic and solar power to improve communities.

The Pavegen tiles power floodlights around the pitch, providing the school community with a safe playing environment. The background to this project is that I won the Shell LiveWIRE entrepreneurship award in 2010 and have made it my mission since then to collaborate with Shell and create breakthrough projects that excite the younger generation and raise awareness to STEM careers. I believe that communication is key, no matter how great a new piece of technology is. We partnered with music superstar / solar entrepreneur Akon for the Nigeria project. Akon was co-founder of Akon Lighting Africa, which aims to provide renewable electricity through solar power across Africa and has rolled out across 15 countries in the continent already.

“New, reliable and smarter energy solutions play a major role in driving human progress in Africa. The innovative football pitch and programmes like Akon Lighting Africa draw attention to the major opportunity that Nigeria as well as the whole of Africa have if we look to better harness new technologies and the continent’s abundant renewable energy resources. That is why I will feature this pitch in my upcoming video for “Tell Me We’re OK” because I want youngsters whether they are in Lagos, Los Angeles or London to think about how they too can help us make the future.” -- Akon

I did not know what to expect when we first flew out in September to install the tiles. Nigeria is a tough environment for a UK SME to work in – even shipping the tiles proved to be really challenging. It’s been a whole year since we created a player-powered football pitch in Rio de Janeiro, yet it feels like only yesterday.

It was an amazing atmosphere; our technology is a clean-energy solution, but nothing without the people who interact and bring renewable energy to life. The demo tile I took with me was in high demand – the students were super excited to see the technology in action, and I had crowds around me wherever I went! Watching everyone interact with the tiles and work together to light up the pitch reminded me of the importance and power of community in the developing world.

Nigeria seems to be evolving rapidly, with the eradication of Polio in September this year. Now with a focus on clean-technology, the country seems like a perfect market for our technology, aligning their objectives with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We’re hoping to install our technology across the African region one day, having also worked with Samsung in Johannesburg earlier this year.

Above: Our project in Johannesburg, where we installed 68 tiles in a shopping mall, in partnership with Samsung

I believe in the importance of pursuing your ideas and bringing your innovations to life. In the early days of Pavegen, my biggest challenge was always raising investment to kickstart the company and move us forward. Banks wouldn’t lend. Government subsidies were lacking. VC firms wanted revenue before they would invest.

I used Shell’s accelerator program, LiveWIRE, to help with the hurdles and transition from startup to a viable business. Pavegen secured a £1000 fund in 2011, which really placed us on the map and I began working on ideas with the Shell team. The fund, alongside the award itself, helped us gain traction with the larger companies – our earlier installations included Bestival and the World Economic Forum with Nike Grind.

Without their support, Pavegen wouldn’t be what it is today. The support is out there for entrepreneurs across the world, and our people-powered pitch reminds aspiring innovators to follow their “clean energy ideas” and help change the world.  I believe that we will change the way people see energy as we begin to scale and fully industrialise the Pavegen technology.

Pavegen now operates in over 30 countries, with a global team of 45 staff, we continue to strive to make our technology accessible to every community in the world but making the lowest cost product we can possible produce.  

We'll be launching our new product in Q1 2016 that'll completely change the face of the company and how we operate on a global scale. It's going to be an exciting New Year!