Our car is rattling on the dusty gravel road. While our heads are rocking forwards and backwards, we can see a radio antenna in the distance. The radio antenna of the mobile phone operator MaliTel announces the imminent arrival in the village of Foh from far away. Foh is located halfway between Sikasso and Koutiala on RN11. You can hardly miss it because of the large radio antenna. It is located in the north of the Sikasso province, directly on a national road. The village mainly depends on cotton and other agricultural products.
With its about 3.700 inhabitants, Foh was already equipped with an electricity grid 12 years ago, which brought great hopes to the people in the village at that time. However, this grid was never put into operation and the belief in an electrification of the village had faded. It is therefore not surprising that great skepticism prevailed when Africa Greentec, a young and unknown company from Germany, applied for the concession in 2017.
But only a short time later, we started to build the Solartainer® and fulfilled our promise to supply the people in the village with sustainable electricity.
Foh has his very personal Design-Solartainer® because our dear colleague and friend Charlie†, who died in an accident in 2018, involuntarily immortalized himself on this Solartainer®.
Anyone who knew Charlie knows that he was always highly motivated and took incredible pleasure in our work. It happened during the assembly of the Solartainer® in Foh that Charlie enthusiastically raised the roof structure and forgot to release a lock. This caused the roof to warp slightly which you can still see today when you look closely. This is how he gave the Solartainer® in Foh a very personal touch..
Like many of our villages, Foh also benefited quickly from the productive electricity. Its location on the national highway contributed significantly to this. Restaurants and boutiques invite the travellers to stay and now also offer food and goods in the evening. Welders, locksmiths and tire repairers were able to work much more efficiently and thus multiply their income and number of employees.
The fertile soils of the region are a perfect prerequisite for agriculture. In the future, for example, more mills can be modernized and run on electricity.
Additionally, with our new solution for a reliable cold chain, the Cooltainer, we will be able to counteract the spoiling of harvests and food in the future. With around 40% of the total harvest in sub-Saharan Africa spoiling in the sun, the Cooltainer offers an incredible opportunity for farmers in Foh and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
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