2015 Tutu Fellow Wiebe Boer’s investment company, All On, has created a $500,000 relief fund for solar power companies to install renewable energy to critical emergency response centres across Nigeria during the Covid-19 crisis. It is allowing frontline healthcare workers to have essential services they need to combat the virus and care for patients.
Wiebe is the CEO of All On, an impact investment company started with seed funding from Shell. All On works with partners to increase access to commercial energy products and services for under-served and un-served off-grid energy markets in Nigeria, with a special focus on the Niger Delta. In Nigeria, as few as 33% of households and 30% of businesses have reliable access to grid electricity.
The relief fund provides a pathway to much-needed alternative power solutions for health centres and rapid response teams that lack access to reliable electricity, which will allow key workers to test and treat patients with the virus and save lives. Solar systems will also be used to power basic necessities such as lighting, fans, and computers, ensuring that essential services are able to respond to the crisis, supply testing kits, and deliver urgent medical care.
Dr. Anthony Iwala, the social franchise director of Society for Family Health, which is one of the organisations benefitting from the service, said: “We are pleased to receive this very significant support from Lumos and All On. Electricity from their solar systems will ensure staff is properly kitted, able to prepare instruments and medication without compromising infection prevention protocols.”
For more, read an article from Power Technology or the media release on All On's website about the initiative.
Report