Sundaymail Editor
Enacy Mapakame
Business Reporter
Unlike poles attract. This rings true when one thinks of 24-year-old Rufaro Mudimu, 28-year-old Nobert Kakurira and 32-year-old Cedric Ndoro who are holders of a Public Administration degree, Masters in International Relations and BA History and Communication respectively.
From their seemingly differing career paths, the trio was, however, united by one goal, to create a solution to one of the challenges Zimbabwe and the region face, a game changing business that not only benefit them as founders but also contribute to the economy through employment creation.
This is how they ventured into the energy sector and came up with Urban Farm Solar (UFS) in 2018 that seeks to set up solar farms in urban areas to help maximise land usage and boost the country’s energy supply.
“Together with my co-founders Nobert Kakurira and Cedric Ndoro, we realised that rooftops are underutilised and took heart at President Mnangagwa’s call when he said young people must be entrepreneurial and create jobs, that is what we are doing,” said Ms Mudimu.
“The Zimbabwe is open for business mantra is true and Government has been accommodating and this is an opportunity I hope other young women out there can take up and break the glass ceiling,” she said, adding that it was imperative for young people to dream big as well as think outside the box. With guidance from Ministries of Energy as well Primary and Secondary Education, the UFS is going through the procedures of coming up with a vibrant renewable energy company whose ultimate goal is to produce 200 mega-watts of energy and feed into the national greed as well as export excess energy.
Currently, the company is looking at a 2 megawatt project at Kuwadzana 2 High as a pilot project in which they will utilise rooftops as well as excess land on the school grounds.
“We have realised that there are vast opportunities for solar energy in urban centres where we use rooftops at schools, stadia, factories and even car parks.
“We are working on getting approvals from the relevant line ministries for our Kuwadzana 2 High project which should have a capacity of 2MW.
”Out of this project, we will power the school’s computer lab and lights for free. We will also increase security for the school because our infrastructure should be safe.
“This will not end here, but we want to expand into other provinces where we want to partner at least five schools in each province, that way we can contribute significantly to national grid,” said Mr Ndoro.
A feasibility study has already been done for the project before moving on to grid impact assessment and getting a license.
But the company has faced challenges in accessing funding for its projects, a challenge that many start –ups face in Zimbabwe despite coming up with game changing business proposals.
Said Mr Ndoro: “This has been implemented in other countries and proven to be effective in solving energy problems. We identified a problem that we face as a country and came up with a solution. This is what we want to do, to be innovators and solve problems that we face as a country,” he said.
This is not the first innovation from the trio. Last year, the company introduced Oasis1, a hands free sanitiser drum which was created to enhance personal hand hygiene to tackle the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Oasis1 was created for schools, hospitals, bus termini and any areas where people gather and was distributed in such.
“We view ourselves as solution providers. Our goal is to come up with innovations that solve problems faced by ordinary people. This is what we did with Oasis1 and we are not stopping,” said Mr Ndoro.
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