Changemakers: Yariv Cohen
How one business, founded by an LBS alumnus, is changing African lives for the better
Gloomy news is so ubiquitous in 2019 that anyone expressing unbridled optimism about our future seems like they’re from another era —perhaps even another planet. The received wisdom is: things can only get worse. But that’s not how Yariv Cohen (prog code) sees things. “We’ve never in history been in a position where we have everything we need to solve our problems,” he says. “Now, we have the technology and the tools to do just that.” Quite a claim. Can it really be true?
Turns out Cohen’s sunny outlook isn’t just blind faith. He has good reasons to be cheerful, and for us all to feel a bit better too. The 44-year-old London Business School alumnus is co-founder and CEO of Ignite Power, a renewable-energy company making a profound impact throughout Africa — with potentially huge implications for economic stability, health, food supply and migration on a global scale.
Ignite Power launched five years ago in Rwanda, with full government support, and has since connected more than 1.1m people in Africa to solar power. The impact of this on their lives has been transformative. Many live in remote, rural areas and previously had no access to a power supply — electricity was too expensive, and the kerosene lamps that many were forced to rely on were inefficient and dangerous; the World Bank estimates that breathing kerosene fumes is the equivalent of smoking two packets of cigarettes a day. So as well as lighting people’s homes, solar power saves lives. It’s good for the environment too: Ignite’s customers have saved a collective carbon emission of 120,000 tons since 2015.
In Rwanda, where the average monthly wage is $60, Ignite connects households to solar power for just $4 a month, “the cheapest plan in Africa”, Cohen says. Customers receive a laptop-sized solar panel plus a battery charger, charge controller, phone ports and three LED lights for their houses, as well as installation and servicing, if needed. It’s a pay-as-you-go model — miss a payment, and the service is blocked for a month. After 24 payments, they own the equipment. For many Rwandans, this is the first regular-payment scheme they have ever entered into. Essentially, says Cohen, he is “banking the unbanked. From the moment they start paying us, they’re entering a formal economy and building a credit score”.
