Mr. Kawago is the Founder and Technical Director of WAGA, a company that manufactures solar lights, power banks and small energy walls, aiming to help rural people access affordable and clean energy off-grid for lighting and energy solutions, as well as urban dwellers. respond to power outages.
Currently, Mr. Kawago is working with Tanzania’s Wasafi FM radio station, educating more than 13 million people on how to solve digital problems and raise awareness about new technologies.
He spoke to UN News in 2023 ECOSOC Youth Forumtakes place at the end of April.
Gibson Kawago, a member of the 2022 United Nations Young Leaders class from Tanzania, stands in his workshop where he builds battery-powered products from recycled lithium-ion batteries.
‘It’s hard to communicate with the outside world’
“When I was growing up in the village I didn’t have electricity, people with cell phones couldn’t charge their batteries when they ran out. So I’ll take 5 to 10 phones on a bike and ride about 30 miles to the nearest town with electricity.
But sometimes it takes two days to charge the phone because of the queue. This makes it very difficult for people to communicate with the outside world, but we have no choice.
This makes them want to find a solution to this problem, living in a community that is not connected to the grid. That’s why I founded Waga, but we work with NGOs and governments to solve problems together.
Gibson Kawago, Young Leader of SDGs
‘Radio is very powerful’
I decided to join Wasafi FM because the radio station is very powerful. You can listen on public transport, at home, or on your mobile phone. And today we can go live online.
Currently, I have a daily five-minute segment where I share information on the latest tech trends. I talk about things like internet security, explaining how young people can make their social media accounts more secure, because many of them don’t know how to do this. I also teach them about phishing attacks and how to protect themselves from hackers who will try to steal their accounts.
So I teach them how they can secure their accounts, and I also educate them on new technologies. There is a lot of technology that I give them, I have access to and have knowledge of them. But people living in the countryside who listen to the radio cannot access the internet.
‘We know where we’re going’
We often look to the bosses of big companies to change things, but we can also make a difference. At WAGA, we are also trying to help people fight climate change in Tanzania with our e-mobility solutions. For example, we make power supplies that can turn ordinary motorcycles into electric bicycles. But first we need to change people’s minds. They need to understand why it is important to use an e-bike and for that to happen, they need to be educated.
Young people have a lot of potential to change the world. And, as we saw at the Youth Forum, although we come from many different backgrounds, we are united in our common goal of achieving a common goal. Sustainable development goals.
The world makes a way for those who know where they are going. And we know where we’re going.”
