Meet the people and passion behind the start-up…
Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Abiye Geoffery and I am 27 years old. I was born in Lagos but I reside in Port Harcourt City. I am the co-founder of Entric Energy.
What does your start-up do?
Our company trades as Entric Energy—we are a rural electrification and micro grid company. We go into communities that have no access to electricity and we deploy adequate solar systems to cater to their energy demands.
What inspired your start-up?
Nigeria currently has a massive deficit in the generated capacity and actual demand of electricity… Nigeria only generates a fraction of its general energy demand. This means that millions of people are not being served with an adequate electricity supply. We believe that electricity is the foundation for growing economic wealth.
What stage is your start-up at?
We haven’t deployed a large system yet; we are looking to break ground with our first pilot project before the end of the year but we do have some customers we are serving. I’d say we are at the growth stage.
Why do you want to start up your business?
I was previously employed in the environmental protection sector, but when my co-founder reached out to me with the idea, I jumped at it because I saw it as an opportunity to make change and do something impactful.
Why did you apply for the Ken Jnr Award for Innovation?
Our application to the Ken Jnr. Award for Innovation was very strategic. We focused on communities in the Niger Delta and the Ken Saro-Wiwa Innovation Hub caters to entrepreneurs seeking to develop solutions for the Niger Delta, so it seemed like a very good fit. We aim to take advantage of the network of investors and donors, as well as any other advantage we could get to enable our start-up thrive.
What do you hope to do with your business after you graduate from the Hub?
Our business is for profit and currently we are working on systems to provide 232 homes across three communities with electricity; these services are paid for from which we hope to generate more revenue to achieve financial sustainability.
Supporting Entric Energy with the best start…
The Ken Jr Award for Innovation is a 6-month ‘incubation’ programme for aspiring tech entrepreneurs, providing a grant, free work-space and office amenities at the Ken Saro-Wiwa innovation hub, training, mentorship support, and soft skills to four teams of people who have a business idea and minimum viable product that they want to take to market.
Published: 20.01.2020
