Thank you for visiting our page. While the campaign to fund our Atlanta competition trip has ended, you can still contribute to our stretch goal and participate in funding our next research and partnerships trip to reach target communities. Please visit: www.wempo.energy.
Can you imagine what life would be like without energy? Clean energy technologies exist, yet billions of people live off the grid without access to modern services for lighting, cooking, refrigeration, education, communication, leisure, and more.
Energy poverty is a solvable problem.
Wempo Energy is a social enterprise with the will and the know-how to solve it. We use a women-centered social enterprise approach to connect primarily off-grid consumers with appropriate, affordable energy technologies such as solar lamps, home energy systems, and clean cooking. Our local collaborators and entrepreneurs act as the conduit between rural female markets and the tech industry, promoting benefits of clean energy in their communities and curating a more accessible marketplace.
A BIG OPPORTUNITY: Support our team in the global competition!
The Wempo Energy team entered the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Empower a Billion Lives competition, a global challenge for scalable solutions to energy access in off-grid communities. Our proposal to leverage women’s networks to link clean energy technologies to rural areas worldwide was well-received in the first round and has advanced to the regional round representing the Americas. When we pitch in Atlanta in February, we have a chance to receive field study funding for summer 2019, then a shot to compete in the global finals fall 2019.
Stretch goal
In mid-January, Leah conducted a survey trip to Guatemala and learned a great deal about who is working in this space, what is already working, and where there is room for improved services to off-grid areas. Now we're reaching out to fund our competition bid in Atlanta and a spring follow-up trip, in which we will take the collaborations that we started in January to the next level. We'll go deeper into understanding where and why the energy value chain fails to reach rural communities and how we can build link to extend that chain. Next steps are to get Lorena and Leah back in the field to begin set up for the women-centered pilot program.
Who are we, and how did we get here?
Co-founders, Leah Victorino and Lorena Brothers, were assigned to be roommates at St. John's University's Rome campus in 2015 as we began our Global Development & Social Justice graduate program. Since then, based in Boise, Idaho and L.A. respectively, we've managed to bond over travels on three continents and a deep connection through the work of fighting global inequality. We did not come from a formal background in energy and tech, but through experiences in the global development field, we have each come to understand how control and distribution of literal power (i.e. electricity services) correlates with many other forms of power (financial, political, social, etc.). In communities where access to modern power is a given, it is easy to undervalue how much basic energy inputs contribute to health and prosperity. We no longer take power for granted and strive to empower others with energy they can use to thrive.
With support from an incredible network of friends, family, colleagues, our educational institutions, and our partner Empowered Solar, we have come to a place where we can advocate and organize for energy for all!
Our team
Wempo Energy is a bright team from multiple
fields of expertise who are passionate about human development and global
sustainability. We are engineers, renewable energy experts, public health researchers, international development practitioners, educators, nonprofit managers, social anthropologists, small business developers, and marketers.
Our model leverages the power of women to connect primarily off-grid communities to clean energy technologies that enhance lives and livelihoods. We are building a more balanced, inclusive, and efficient energy sector by activating female changemakers in the energy value chain.
