Then, midway through his career in 2003, he pressed pause. He enrolled at the London Business School where he gained an MBA, with distinction. He uses the tools he acquired there every day.
“There were so many takeaways from LBS,” he says. “From the curriculum, from the organisation, from the friends I made who coached and mentored me, and from the support group for my business. It opened my eyes to the international side and made me a lot more global, giving me the confidence to go to a new country in the middle of Africa and set up a business. I couldn’t have done that before.”
The gamble paid off. This year, Yariv became a later-stage ventures category winner of LBS’s Accomplished Entrepreneur Awards, an accolade that recognises alumni who have revolutionised their industry and will inspire the next generation. What does the award mean to him?
“The best part is that maybe more students and alumni will choose to work on climate change and in emerging markets in Africa; and it will become cool to work on finding those solutions. If I can nudge more people to do it, that’s great.”
Pay as you grow
Meanwhile, Ignite continues to shake up Africa’s energy sector with more initiatives, including a Pay-As-You-Grow irrigation system that enables farmers to tap into their land more efficiently.
“Our solar pumps let them double or quadruple their output,” says Yariv. “And the model means they only pay during harvest and according to growth in yield. Sixty-five percent of farmers say this has resulted in a 3 x increase in their crops, and 100% said our work has changed their lives for the better.”
There’s also Clean Cooking Solutions – a smoke-free alternative to the highly-polluting firewood or charcoal that families cooked with before, and a PAYGO financing model for smartphones. “It’s the first time many of our clients have owned a smartphone,” says Yariv, “but they’re learning – and they’re learning fast. It’s opened up a lot more opportunities for them.”
Children, meanwhile, are benefiting from the extra hours of power their parents can afford as they can now study and read after dark; 84% of them are now getting better grades.
And there’s more. Eighty percent of Ignite’s clients say their income has increased, 92% feel safer inside and outside their homes (solar torches enable women to walk home safely after dark), and 16% have started a new business. The result is a higher quality of life and a more sustainable, inclusive future for all, which is what Ignite set out to deliver from the start.
To market, to market…
Yariv heads an executive team of five, working six days a week with some Saturdays off.
“Spare time doesn’t happen very often,” he says, “but when it does I play chess and tennis to clear my head. When the weather's nice I go water-skiing.” He talks about the fun bit of the business when his team “go to market”.
“The markets happen once a week, usually on Tuesdays,” he says. “It’s a big day. Everybody brings their vegetables and fruits to sell, and we come with our purple umbrella, our solar products, and we make sales from a kiosk or a table top. The client comes, buys the system, takes it home, then we send an installer to fit it. Later, we’ll visit his house to ensure everything is working properly. If there’s an issue, we go there and fix it.