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#ImpactStory Diessira Diallo – Productive Use of Electricity As a Key Factor for a Functioning Business

Marie
July 12, 2021

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As we make our way to Diessira Diallo, it begins to rain lightly. It is the end of the rainy season in Djoliba, Mali, but every now and then a few drops still fall. Diessira is waiting for us in front of her kiosk, which she opened in 2018 on Djoliba's main street. 

Before Diessira started her current shop, she had a smaller kiosk in Djoliba, not far from the current one. As the number of her customers quickly increased and she noticed that the demand for her products was growing strongly, she decided in 2018 to open a larger kiosk on her family's property - with success. Her shop is doing well, customers are happy and Diessira has been able to increase her income significantly.

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Productive Use of Electricity As the Key to Success

The electricity from Africa GreenTec also plays an important role here. Many people in Djoliba are currently using small PV panels with batteries to power their devices - including Diessira. However, the performance of the batteries is often low and they are also not very durable. Diessira only used her batteries to power a light bulb in the evening so that she could work longer in her store.

Diessira has been purchasing solar energy from Africa GreenTec since December 2018. This has changed a lot. As she can now also use the electricity productively and offer cold drinks (tamarind and guava juice are the top sellers), for example, her income has more than doubled.

In the rainy and harvest season, I hardly have any customers during the day. With electricity and light, I can also open my shop in the evening. I also bought a refrigerator. Now I not only throw away less food, but also attract new customers. They come to buy refrigerated things and then stay – my shop has become a meeting place for the village and my income has multiplied! This way I am able to feed more than 60 people in my family. In the future, I want to open more shops and help people by not having to travel to Bamako for their groceries.

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Fresh fruit is also available at Diessira's
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There is a wide range of everyday products

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Women Empowerment – Let’s Talk Business Y’All!

Recently, women from Djoliba, including Diessira, have started an association that supports women to start a business. The women share start-up ideas, funding and business strategies to support each other.

Her family is also heavily involved in Diessira's shop. Her children help out in the shop after school and learn from her how to do the bookkeeping, for example. They take their mother's ambition as a model. Diessira wants to open more shops in Djoliba. At the moment, her savings are not enough to open another shop, but that is at the top of her priority list, right next to two more refrigerators for her current shop. Because of its convenient location on the main road, her kiosk is very busy.