fidel mberabagabo lives down a dirt path in a modest, hand-built mud and concrete home surrounded on either side by hazy, gently cresting green hills. like most people in this part of rwanda’s rural rwamagana district, he is a farmer. also like them, finances are strained; he never knows just how much he will make in a given month. but mberabagabo’s life does now differ from that of many of his neighbours in one important way: he has electricity.
菲德尔·梅贝拉巴格伯（fidel mberabagabo）住在一条土路边上一个靠人力建造的泥土和水泥房子里，四周环绕充满迷雾和微微隆起的青山。和卢旺达农村地区卢瓦马加纳（rwamagana）的大部分人一样，他是农民，并且生活拮据。他从不知道下个月自己能赚多少钱。但是梅贝拉巴格伯的生活又和他的邻居有着很大的不同：他有电。
in the developed world, people take for granted that light bulbs will turn on with the flick of a switch; that they can access unlimited power to charge copious devices; and that their well-stocked fridges and artificially cooled and heated homes will maintain just the right temperature.
but as anyone who has weathered the aftermath of a hurricane or found themselves in the midst of a major blackout will attest, if these precious amenities are taken away, life largely comes to a halt.
yet for all our dependency on power, some 1.2 billion people around the world – 16% of the global population – do not have access to it at all.
back in rwanda, for example, less than 20% of the population live in homes that enjoy electricity – a fact that stymies development and reinforces poverty. it’s a huge problem that defines many of the problems we face in the 21st century.
to some, however, such statistics ring not of hopelessness, but of opportunity.
发达国家的人想当然的认为打开开关电灯就会亮，他们认为自己可以无限制的使用电力为各种设备充电，还认为存满食物的冰箱里和自动控制冷暖的房子能够保持合适的温度。
但是任何经历过台风或大范围停电的人都可以作证，如果这些宝贵的生活便利设施消失，生活就会基本中止。
尽管我们对电力的依赖如此严重，全球有大约12亿人——全球人口的16%——完全没有供电。
以卢旺达为例，只有不到20%的人口家中有电——这阻碍了发展，也加重了贫困。这一问题是21世纪很多问题的背后的成因。
不过，对一些人来说，这些统计数字并不意味着绝望，而是说明存在机会。
“this is such an untapped market,” says laurent van houcke, chief operations officer ofbboxx, a london-based company that brings off-grid energy to the developing world. “there are massive opportunities for entrepreneurship, as well as great possibilities for impacting lives.”
for van houcke and his colleagues, rural residents like mberabagabo who lack electricity are not charity cases, but bona fide customers.
their solution: a for-profit company that manufactures, installs and affordably loans out sturdy, hyper-efficient solar-powered chargers. in just four years, they have brought power to around 130,000 homes and businesses in 35 countries – by 2020, they're aiming for more than a million.
breaking the mould
it all began at imperial college london. while others focused on buffing up cvs for future careers in banking or the consultancy sector, electrical engineering students van houcke and his two bboxx co-founders, christopher baker-brian and mansoor hamayun, decided to found equinox: a charity devoted to electrifying a few communities in rwanda.
in summer 2009, when they flew into kigali, rwanda’s friendly, laid-back capital, they could clearly see the challenge the country faced. the hilly city’s numerous lookout points afforded sweeping views of attractive buildings painted in shades of cream and yellow, interspersed with parks and a few high rises. but after sundown, a previously invisible pider revealed itself: the light abruptly stopped outside of the capital’s tight core.
how would rwanda ever realise its goal of becoming “the singapore of africa” if so many of its citizens still lacked access to electricity?
这是一个尚未发掘的市场，伦敦bboxx公司的首席运营官罗兰·范·霍克（laurent van houcke）说。该公司为发展中国家带来离网供电。他说：这里有很多创业的机会，人们的生活有可能发生巨大的变化。
对范·霍克和他的同事来说，缺电的梅贝拉巴格伯农村居民不是慈善项目，而是有诚意的顾客。
他们的解决方案是：由营利企业制造、安装并以平价出租坚固、高效的太阳能充电器。在短短四年内，他们就为35个国家的13万个家庭和企业带来供电——他们的目标是在2020年之前达到100万。
打破常规
一切始于伦敦帝国学院（imperial college london）。当其他人专注于撰写简历，申请银行或咨询公司的职位时，电气工程专业的学生范·霍克和bboxx的联合创始人克里斯托弗·贝克-布莱恩（christopher baker-brian）、曼苏尔·哈马雍（mansoor hamayun）决定成立equinox公司：这家慈善机构致力于让卢旺达的数个地区实现电气化。
2009年夏，他们飞往卢旺达轻松休闲的首都基加利（kigali），当时他们清楚的看到了这个国家面临的挑战。这个多山的城市有很多观景点，可以看到大片的奶白色和黄色的漂亮建筑物，中间夹着一些公园和摩天大楼。但是在太阳落山后，原本隐藏着的分水岭开始显现：除了首都中心地带以外，其他地方一片漆黑。
如果还有那么多的人还没有用上电，卢旺达如何实现非洲的新加坡这一目标？