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Hey there! đ
Skander here.
You know that feeling when youâre waiting for the cable guy, and they said âbetween 8am and 6pm, and you waste your entire day, and they never show up?
Now imagine that, except the cable guy is âelectricity,â the day is â50 years,â and youâre one of 600 million people. At some point, you stop waiting and figure it out yourself.
Whatâs happening across Sub-Saharan Africa right now is the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history, except itâs not being built by governments or utilities or World Bank consortiums. Itâs being built by startups selling solar panels to farmers on payment plans. And itâs working.
Over 30 million solar products sold in 2024. 400,000 new solar installations every month across Africa. 50% market share captured by companies that didnât exist 15 years ago. Carbon credits subsidizing the cost. IoT chips in every device. 90%+ repayment rates on loans to people earning $2/day.
And if you understand whatâs happening in Africa, you understand the template for how infrastructure will get built everywhere else for the next 50 years.
Today we are looking into:
Why the grid will never come (and why thatâs actually good news)
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