Cedric Doffu, a young man from Ivory Coast, has received the first prize from the EDF Pulse Africa Tour on behalf of the company Lifi Led, which he represented. The start-up has set up a three-in-one solution that provides access to electricity, high-speed Internet and educational content at the same time. The award makes him one of the finalists of EDF Pulse Africa.
The start-up company Lifi Led will represent the country at the EDF Pulse Africa final on November 21, 2019 in Paris. During the national finale held on the 30th of September 2019, a total of eight projects were presented to the jury. And first place went to Lifi Led, a young company specialising in the production of electrical uses and services.
For this competition, the company has put forward a solution that allows access to the Internet and electricity through daylight. The young Ivorian entrepreneurs, who designed it, install solar panels on roofs, and the latter generate energy that subsequently supplies their device. The light produced by the solar panels also makes it possible to transmit Internet data thanks to the Lifi system set up by the start-up. In short, Lifi Led offers a 3 in 1 solution that, using a Light Emeting Diod (LED) lamp and a digital application, allows users to access electricity, a high-speed Internet connection and educational content at the same time. Through this mechanism, its promoters want to meet the needs of rural areas in terms of access to electricity and the Internet. In Ivory Coast, the rate of access to electricity is 65%.
As in Cameroon, the competition was held for the first time in Ivory Coast. It was organised under the high patronage of the Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energy, Abdourahmane Cissé. The purpose of EDF Pulse Africa is to identify the carriers of solutions in the energy sector in Africa and to provide them with technical and financial support afterwards. The finale, which will take place in November in Paris-France, will bring together representatives from the following countries: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Morocco and South Africa. At the beginning, 540 applications were registered, about sixty were selected for the national competitions. The finalists by country are now known and the month of November is awaited for the final round.
Luchelle Feukeng
