We use create zero emission solutions not because they are fancy but because they work better than fuel powered alternatives – ChargeKo Founder Geofrey Mutabazi.
Bella: Please introduce yourself, and tell us what you've been doing? How are you? What are you excited for in this year 2023?
Geofrey: My name is Geofrey Mutabazi, I'm an energy entrepreneur. I would say I love creating solutions and solving problems in interesting ways. But I also think I have a passion for the outdoors, like just being outside experiencing nature. So, I think this conversation about climate change is very relevant to me, both as someone innovating and creating solutions. But also, as someone who enjoys the natural environment.
Bella: So the sole purpose for our theme “Your Hand and Combating Climate change is to know our solution makers better. Where does your story with ChargeKo start?
Geofrey: The first, I would say three or four years, I've been actively building solutions in this space and that's through the different initiatives that have been part of. So, I am part of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps which is a community of changemakers in the climate change space. It was started by the previous vice president of the US. We got an in-depth training on the effects of climate change; what it takes to educate people about climate change and how much, or how little everyone else can contribute to saving the environment or achieving net zero carbon emissions.
Besides that, I also started working on solutions and that [climate] space. I have a business called ChargeKo that does phone charging solutions or energy solutions to power different devices. But we realised that you need your phone to charge when you are in the bar, or when you're at an event. But what happens besides that? There's a time you will go upcountry and maybe you are a tourist you basically need to, to keep a bunch of things powered.
Perhaps you need to charge so you need to power your phone, your GPS tracker if you're using a navigation device, or you need your lights, maybe you have a headlamp or a camera to take beautiful photos.
We started thinking about it differently, saying okay, in such a situation, yes, you need to power these devices but what are you going to use to power them? Are you going to use a generator which is what almost everyone uses in that space currently and of which Generator is heavy to carry, you need fuel for it, polluting the natural environment. So, you've gone into nature and you've just taken pollution to it. So, we started looking at solutions for that problem – a battery size package that enables people in the outdoors to charge their devices without using non-renewable resources like fuel which are already inconvenient to use anyway.
This is when we engage partners like Mountain Slayers Uganda and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and we start working on solutions.
We introduced a new way of engaging with the new way of engaging with the environment. You’re using the solution not because it's the fanciest solution. But because it actually does the job. It is actually better to use than the alternative.
Bella: But it is fancy. It is a fancy device.
Geofrey: We started off with small power banks, designed for the urban areas, but of course in rural areas, off grid settings, we had to have a different spin to it. We had to have a bigger battery because in principle someone is trying to power, maybe a laptop, camera so there's a lot more to work with. But all the batteries that were available on the market were very big and bulky that you cannot carry around hence the new portable and elegant design but with bigger battery life than the bulky ones.
Bella: How have you been able to balance your relationships and to innovate for both the younger consumers (GenZs) and the older demographics?
Geofrey: You have to understand what each side brings to the table. It's really figuring out that everyone cares about different things but at the end of that day, all these agendas lead up to almost the same outcome.
A person in the outdoors is probably a company executive or like a young person that's travelling to get away from the hustle of the city while a person that in the city is looking at how to make their life more efficient, how to get to where they're going faster, they're looking more at optimising their life. They want things to move really fast. And the older generation is calmer, yet you need a bit of both. So, when creating solutions for each of these people, you have to put into context that the solution you provide is not out of touch with the kind of person you are innovating for.
I'll give you an example, most of the people that go mountain climbing or hiking are typically older, most of the people who travel outdoors who can afford to travel as frequently are older. The younger people are always partying in a bar, they want a different type of solution. When we built this energy storage solution, the portable battery pack. It was good enough to get her for the person travelling to Rwenzori, going off road into nature to power that device. But also, for a person who is in the city and lives in Najjera, where power is always going off.
Instead of buying a generator, they can use the same battery solution to power their applications sustainably. We use zero emissions solutions not because they are fancy but because they actually work better than fuel powered alternatives like a generator. Building solutions to reduce carbon emissions is not something you do because it's fancy, you do it because it's better. If you can also make it fancy, talk about the number of carbon emissions that you've saved, and the tons of CO2 that are not being emitted, that's an added advantage, but I think utility is the most important thing before you even think about scaling the solution.
But also building the solution with someone with a customer in mind or the user in mind is very important.
Bella: How have you been able to maintain the entrepreneur journey because it's not easy financially, resource wise?
Geofrey: Usually the biggest challenge in this space is the physical solutions. You must invest in them. The first challenge, of course, is money. You need to finance building the solution, testing the solution, and scaling the solution. In terms of the team, the talent; it's very important to have buy-in but I think really, it's your dream at the start. So, you're going to be the most passionate, you're going to be the one thinking about the problem every single day. And if you get a team that is very passionate about climate change, then it's an added advantage. But really, at the start, it's you who is going to drive That discussion, the innovation and then the team will sort of ease into your vision.
You have to make peace with the fact that, one; it's going to take a lot more time than you think, two; it's going to take a lot more resources than you think and three; you have to do it in half the time and half the resources.
Bella: Besides ChargeKo, I’ve seen you doing bicycles. Could you just talk about that invention?
Geofrey: I've always loved cycling ever since I was a kid and the reason why the basically started the electric bicycle project is because food delivery, package delivery was still being done or motorcycles even for short distances. And what that means is you order for rolex of maybe UGX,000 and that delivery is Ushs3,000. But also, this rider is charging you that much because he's paying an arm and the leg for fuel. That's why we started looking at electric bicycles to still have the same outcome of faster, cheaper deliveries without sacrificing the speed, and the distance that you could travel in, in comparison to a motorcycle.
So, we launched something called Kaara. It's basically an electric mobility and a larger energy storage solution startup. Kaara is basically slang for power (electricity). We've been working on this since 2020 but I would say actively for the past six months. We are already doing food delivery in Kampala using electric bicycles, we are still testing the bikes with Jumia and Glovo and the results are already looking really good. We have a few riders on the road, and I think it's looking very promising. This year we're looking to scale that up, more riders and more locations.
Bella: As an entrepreneur in this climate change business, what advice would you have for any other entrepreneur?
Geofrey: If we're innovating for climate change, you have to take a double-sided approach. There are the people who are building solutions for the future. So, if you're building like new technologies that haven't been implemented before, maybe in the carbon capture space, maybe in the battery space and you're building like a different type of battery that lasts for days or you're building a type of solar panel that charges at night using the moon. You have to have the patience to build the solution, right?
However, there are innovators who are utilising already existing technologies and scaling them, and I believe at this stage, we need more innovators or entrepreneurs that are scaling existing solutions compared to those who are creating new solutions. You've heard of the saying that don't reinvent the wheel. If it is already existent, scale it and ensure that everyone in the world has whichever solution that you are building.
But also, when you're building something new, at times you don't really believe in yourself. You don't think you can't pull it off. You think “what makes me so special”, you doubt yourself because maybe you’re in Africa, you have limited resources, your solution hasn't been tested anywhere so you ask yourself what makes your solutions so special. If you're building a new solution, don't doubt yourself. Be confident and be confident in the fact that you can pull this off because all the things that we're using in the modern world were created by someone at one point.
And if you're scaling an existing solution, don't try to look like you're building a whole new thing. Use what's existing because you'll move faster using less resources and you'll still achieve the same goal.
Bella: Any last remarks?
Geoffrey: Climate change is here. It is a problem that is not going to go away anytime soon until we make it go away. We need to solve it using solutions that don't disrupt our way of living. There needs to be a win-win situation where we protect the environment, but we also protect the livelihoods of people.
The Western world is privileged that they have a lot more disposable income and systems that integrate new technologies, new solutions, and new forms of consumption into their lives without drastically affecting the quality of life.
However, in Africa, we have to innovate more to build solutions that fit into people's lives, so we don't want to take one step forward and two steps backwards. The solutions have to be centred around the people who are going to use them but also environment centred.