106 - The International Resource Journal

100 AFRICA Helvetic Solar Contractors“Just as energy is the basis of life itselfand ideas the source of innovation, so isinnovation the vital spark of all humanchange, improvement and progress”– Theodore Levitt, American Economist andformer professor at Harvard Business SchoolNot unlIKe many areas of Africa, Tanzania is arapidly developing region, rich in resources – in thiscase an abundant supply of sunshine – but facinga power crisis due to the high-level of growingdemand and unfortunate lack of supply. Until veryrecently, that is.At the age of 19, an ambitious Patrick Ngowitook a hard look at his country’s dire situation anddecided to put his gap year to good use by studyingsolar energy in China, where they were alreadylooking for alternative energy sources to cater tothe market.Once he returned to Tanzania, a 22-year-oldNgowi took the entrepreneurial route and launchedHelvetic Solar Contractors, a company that startedwith “humble beginnings” supplying one householdafter another, to expanding into the renewableenergy solution provider of choice for the Tanzaniangovernment and international clients like the UnitedNations.Currently the company has offices across Tanzaniain Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar, withthe fourth office in Mwanza anticipated to launch in2013.“I decided that solar energy was the best wayforward, given that it is sustainable and it is a cleanenergy source,” says Ngowi, founder and managingdirector of Helvetic Solar. “Tanzania as a whole isvery sunny and there is such a demand for power.I thought the best way to get that power would betapping into solar. At the same time we are not onlyoffering a power source, but we are offering a greenpower source. So it is catering to two aspects.”Products and ServicesOne only needs to look as far as the company’swebsite to see that Helvetic Solar offers a widerange of products to its customers, on a retail andwholesale level.The company provides specialised customsolar power kits, offering a wide range of productsincluding solar panels, solar water heaters, solarrefrigerators, solar street lighting and garden lighting,solar water pumping systems, solar batteriesas well as solar generators.Ngowi is keenly aware that not only are theproducts important – many of which are importedfrom Canada, Germany and the United States – butthe service is paramount to the branding as well,something the company strives to provide excellenceon.