Benedict Okpala
Kiru Energy – Nigeria
Our children may learn about the heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves architects of the future – Jomo Kenyatta
Benedict Okpala is a young Nigeria with a vision to build a sustainable future for Africa leveraging on clean energy and emerging technologies. A change maker, tech innovator, social entrepreneur, renewable energy and sustainable development professional. This passion and zeal for Africa’s development lead to cofounding Kiru Energy. He believes that a solution to Africa’s energy problem will be a key to unlock so much potentials and opportunities. He has a background in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria.
He is the Co-project lead of Lighting Up Nigeria Initiative, a social impact project which aims at powering over ten thousand primary health centers across Africa with standalone solar power systems. The project was launched by Kiru Energy in response to solve the immediate challenges faced by rural health centres in Africa during the pandemic.
He was selected among many tech professionals to develop the IEEE-HAC COVID-19 Marketplace Robot for COVID-19 symptom diagnosis, hand sanitizing and patient data collection, which was commissioned and deployed at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, November 2020.
Benedict was among the 9 selected young founders that participated in the Shared Value Africa Initiative Programme, 2021 session. He is a multi-talented, zealous, hardworking and highly a creative person who believes in a brighter future for Africa. In his leisure times, he creates beautiful and stunning artworks, which includes pencil artworks and oil paintings.