Nthabiseng Mosia is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian entrepreneur and co-founder of the

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

based

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

company Easy Solar.

Early life and education

Mosia was born in

, later moving to

. As a teenager she occasionally experienced blackouts due to unreliable supply of electricity, which first sparked her interest in energy. Mosia gained a

Bachelor of Business Science The Bachelor of Business Science (BBusSci) is a four-year honours level degree providing for a scientifically based study of economic and management sciences, "premised on the application of quantitative methods". The degree is offered in South A ...

in Finance and Economics from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, graduating with first class honors and distinction, subsequently working as a management consultant across Africa. In 2016 she studied for a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

focused on Clean Energy Finance and Policy at the

School of International and Public Affairs The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the List of schools of international relations in the United States, international affairs and public policy school, public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League univers ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where she met her co-founders of Easy Solar, Eric Silverman and Alexandre Tourre.

Career

Mosia and her co-founders conceived of the idea for providing reliable and affordable electricity to households underserved by the grid in West Africa, during their graduate studies. Together they won major funding for the project from competitions and

hackathon A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of '' hacking'' and ''marathon'') is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 h ...

s in the US, such as the D-Prize in 2015 and the Columbia Venture Competition 2016. Initial funding allowed Mosia and her colleagues to conduct a survey of energy availability across 1,500 Sierra Leonean households. Easy Solar, trading internationally as Azimuth, was created in 2016 as a commercial initiative to extend the reach of high-quality solar energy devices (such as lanterns and home systems) across under-provided Sierra Leone. The company offers financial initiatives, such as

rent-to-own Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, engagement rings, and real property, ...

, on a pay-as-you-go basis to help poorer households afford their own solar panels. Studies indicate that as few as one in a hundred rural households in

have access to electricity. Since the company was established Easy Solar claims to have provided 30,000 households with electricity. The company plans to expand the business soon into neighbouring

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

and

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

. Mosia is also an advocate for expanding opportunities for African women.

Recognition

*2021:''
Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst
*2020:

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Woman Africa Gen Y Award. *2019: Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

and

Schwab Foundation The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a Swiss Non-profit, not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 that provides platforms at regional, national, and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.Schwab Foundation for Social E ...

*2019:

Forbes Africa ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

30 Under 30 (Tech Category) *2018: 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa 2018 by

*2018: 30 Africa Pioneers by

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

*2017: 100 Most Influential Young People in South Africa by Avance media. *2017: 200 Top Young South Africans by

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'', formerly the ''Weekly Mail'', is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, loca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosia, Nthabiseng Living people 21st-century South African businesswomen 21st-century South African businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people)