WakaWaka has built several interesting products that fall directly in line with the hardware and power themes of the 2014 International CES. WakaWaka manufacturers extremely high-efficiency, low-cost solar lamps and solar chargers. Thus, WakaWaka – ‘Shine Bright’ in Swahili – is an apt name for the product. Before we dive into WakaWaka’s different products, it is necessary to take a look at the company’s mission and goals.
WakaWaka’s mission is driven by a few facts:
1.3 billion people around the world – a quarter of humanity – have no access to electricity, and hundreds of millions more face regular blackouts. The effects of this energy poverty are enormous. Lacking power and light severely reduces a family’s quality of life. Kerosene lamps are widely used for lighting, but they are very inefficient, dangerous and expensive, and have extensive health and environmental drawbacks.
WakaWaka has made its mission to bring light to these 1.3 billion people.
In addition to operating a retail company (WakaWaka), the founders also operate The WakaWaka Foundation, an international NGO dedicated eliminating the most extreme energy poverty. The foundation is, essentially, the humanitarian arm of WakaWaka, providing the company’s products at very little, to no cost to those people living in crisis or conflict zones. The foundation also has several other programs that provide WakaWaka products tot hose living in energy poverty; notably, through the WakaWaka Micro-Entrepreneurs program, the company provides, “WakaWaka products as ‘starting capital’ for micro-entrepreneurs who then sell these products to those at the Bottom of the Pyramid through micro loan installments.”
The WakaWaka products are just as remarkable as the company’s mission. In 2012, after a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, the company began shipping the WakaWaka Light, which is the world’s most efficient solar LED lamp. The light requires 8 hours of sun for a full charge, which allows for 16 hours of lighting.
In 2013, building on the success and efficiency of the WakaWaka Light, the company introduced WakaWaka Power (right). The WakaWaka Power requires 10 hours of sunlight for a full charge; the WakaWaka Power battery can fully charge a smartphone.
We had a chance to speak with Camille van Geste, WakaWaka Co-founder and CEO at CES. He told us a little bit about WakaWaka Power, as well as the new WakaWaka Base-10 product:
