Africa's Big Switch (ABS)
Africa’s Big Switch is a podcast that aims to identify current and future solutions to complex problems on the African continent. Examples of such problems include: Climate Change, Homelessness, Poverty, Political Instability, Famine, Floods etc.Our first season sheds light and sparks conversation around the future of energy in Africa.Why Energy?Modern society depends on reliable and affordable energy services to function smoothly and to develop equitably. A well-established energy system supports all sectors from medicine and education to agriculture, infrastructure, communications and high-technology. However, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there are over 770 million people in the world today without access to electricity, 77% of which are in Sub-saharan Africa. The Sustainable Development Goal 7 of the UN Agenda, aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. Given we are only a few years to 2030, we explore the progress, challenges and opportunities for achieving this goal across
Episodes
36 episodes
ABS E1: Electrifying Rural Communities in Nigeria
Using Nigeria as a case study, I had a conversation with Bolaji Onalaja, an energy and technology consultant, to understand the current situation in Nigeria, challenges and available opportunities for renewable energy in ensuring access t...
ABS E2: Lessons Learnt from India's Approach to Rural Electrification
On this episode, I had a conversation with Amit Saraogi and Anshuman Lath to learn how India was able to grow its electricity access from ...
ABS E3: Financing Rural Electrification in Africa
We spoke to Collins Kuindwa, an investment officer at SunFunder in Nairobi, to understand how rural electrification is financed in Africa. We explored the meth...
ABS E4: The Largely Unspoken Truths About Clean Cooking
Did you know?Over 3 billion people live without access to clean cooking facilities in the world today.According to the IEA, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 490,000 premature deaths per year linked to household air pollution from t...
ABS E5: Does Oil & Gas Have a Role to Play in Africa’s Future?
The Oil and Gas industry has been a notorious contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which has contributed to climate change. But does oil & gas have a role to play in the energy transition in Africa? If so, how? T...
ABS E6: Demystifying the Nuclear Industry in Africa
There is often this mysterious cloud surrounding the nuclear industry with a lot of false perceptions on its safety and role in contributing towards a sustainable energy future. On this episode of
ABS E7: Does Nuclear Have a Role to Play in the Energy Transition?
Still on Nuclear Energy! But this time we take a deeper dive into the technology.Have you heard of the Pebble Small Modular Reactor (PSMR)? We spoke to
ABS E8: Can Solar Power My Business?
Can I use solar energy to power my business? On this episode of Africa's Big Switch we had a conversation with Victor Tobenna Ezenwoko, the Chief...
ABS E9: Powering Health Centres in Africa
We had a conversation with Rahul Srinivasan, a Senior Energy Specialist at Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), to explore the ne...
Bonus: Sit Down with Your Hosts 3.0
On this episode of Africa's Big Switch Podcast, hosts Celine, Lys, Bolaji an...
E28 Unleashing Potential: How Opportunity International Empowers Farmers
On this episode of ABS, we sat down with Richard Chongo, the Country Director of
Bonus: Sit Down with Your Hosts 2.0
On this episode of Africa's Big Switch Podcast, hosts Hassana, Joshua, Beatrice, and Bolaji reflect on the 14 episodes released so far. They discuss the progress that has been made and give insights into the future direction of the...
Bonus: Sit down with your hosts
As the name suggests, your hosts Hassana, Joshua and Bolaji, reflecte...
ABS E10: Building an Educational Botanical Garden
We had a conversation with Maryam Abdulkadir, an environmentalist who works with rural communities in Nigerian to reintroduce cultural medicinal practices. She is ...
ABS E11 Vula: Helping African Startups Raise Funding
We had a conversation with Nicholas Rawhani, the CEO of Vula, a company whose ...
ABS E12 Arone: Manufacturing Batteries to Power Middle-income Households
We sat down with Emmanuel Ezenwere the CEO of Arone, a company whose mission is to pioneer technologies that democratize access to basic...
ABS E13 Sustainable & Impact Investing in Nigeria
We had a great conversation with Nana Skari Maidugu, who is the Head of Sustainability and ESG at the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). <...
ABS E14: Empowering Communities in Malawi for a Sustainable Future
We had a great conversation with Pam Haigh, who is the UK General Manager at Ripple Africa.Ripple Africa is a UK registe...
ABS E15: The Energy Transition in Ghana
An exciting conversation with Bradley K. Poku-Amankwah , the acting Principal Coordinator at the Ghana Energy Transition Office. The
ABS E16: Sustainable Development in Burundi
A conversation with Hubert Waterinckx, a Social Development Specialist at the World Bank Gr...
ABS E17: Providing Auxiliary Services to Oil and Gas Companies in Ghana
We spoke with Edma Lawer, the founder and CEO of ELO Petroleum, an Oil and Gas service company...
ABS E18 The Electricity Market in Nigeria: A Legal Perspective
We had a conversation with Chinenye Ajayi, an energy professional and commercial lawyer with over a decade worth of experience. Chinenye is currently the Team Lead of ...