Nthabiseng Mosia

What makes Nthabiseng Mosia a Global Shaker?

Nthabiseng Mosia is the co-founder and CCO of Easy Solar, a Sierra Leone-based solar energy company. Easy Solar distributes solar-powered devices via a rent-to-own financing structure, allowing off-grid communities to be able to afford and access clean energy. The company offers products such as pico solar lanterns and home systems to larger KW systems.

Born in Ghana and raised in South Africa, Nthabiseng often experienced blackouts growing up, which sparked her interest in energy.

“I was cognizant from a young age about the centrality electricity has in daily life as South Africa’s national grid would occasionally go down in my home, leaving my family and I scrounging around in the dark,” she told Lioness of Africa. “While I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy mostly decent electricity services, I’ve also become acutely aware, through my travels around the continent, that many Africans (in fact two-thirds) lack access to electricity and are still using toxic, expensive lighting alternatives.”

Forbes has awarded Nthabiseng with several honours, including the Forbes Woman Africa Gen Y Award in 2020, Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 (Tech Category) in 2019, and the 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa 2018 by Forbes in 2018. In 2019, the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation named her as the Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and the previous year, Quartz placed her on its 30 Africa Pioneers list.

“There is something incredibly rewarding about waking up each day and feel like you’re having an impact, a real impact on people’s lives,” she said. “For many of our customers it’s their first time having access to any form of electricity. To listen to them share their stories (whether it’s how their children can now study better at night, how they feel more secure at night, or how they appreciate the customer service and dedication that our sales team provides them with), that gives me this humbling feeling that I’ve created something beyond myself; that the work that we do as a company has meaning for our customers and their families.”

Mosia earned a bachelor’s in business science in finance and economics from the University of Cape Town and a master’s in clean energy finance and policy at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. At Columbia, she met Eric Silverman and Alexandre Tourre, her co-founders at Easy Solar.

Last updated: May 25, 2020

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