Podcasts about off grid electric

In this episode: Emily's conversation with Xavier Helgesen, the co-founder and former CEO of Zola Electric. Zola is a provider of solar and storage systems in Africa. Since its founding in 2012 as Off-Grid Electric, the company has served over a million people with clean power in five countries.Over the years, Zola has evolved from a small, scrappy startup that offered basic energy packages into a hardware software company that installs sleek, scalable power systems that rival the grid in performance. This conversation was recorded in 2019 in front of a live audience at Powerhouse's headquarters in Oakland, CAThis podcast is brought to you by DLA Piper, a full-service global law firm that works with leading technology companies and their investors to meet all their legal needs. It's also brought to you by AES, a fortune-500 company helping organizations transition to new, smarter and cleaner solutions. AES is working toward a world that is 100% carbon-free.Powerhouse partners with leading corporations and investors to help them lead the next century of clean technology innovation. Our fund, Powerhouse Ventures, invests in founding teams building innovative software to rapidly transform our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more about Powerhouse at https://www.powerhouse.fund/

The Global Education Policy Dashboard (GEPD), funded by a partnership between the World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, U.K.'s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and government of Japan, provides policymakers with a system for measuring the drivers of learning outcomes in basic education around the world. As part of this initiative, the Edtech Readiness Index aims to help countries assess the readiness of their ecosystems in leveraging 'edtech' to promote learning for all. The Index not only includes device availability or connectivity but also institutional capacities, school management, educational resources, quality of the learning experience, and development of digital competencies which constitute an ‘ecosystem' essential for an effective ‘edtech' implementation. Imaginable Futures supports the EdTech Readiness Index and today Cristobal Cobo, Senior Education Technology Specialist at the World Bank, is speaking with Amy Klement, Managing Partner of Imaginable Futures, and Sergio Venegas Marin, Young Professional at the World Bank Global Education Practice, about monitoring countries' readiness to support education with digital technologies and the EdTech Readiness Index. Learn more: Scaling Access & Impact Report: Realizing the Power of Edtech: https://www.imaginablefutures.com/learnings/scaling-access-impact-realizing-power-edtech Learning to Overcome podcast: https://www.imaginablefutures.com/learnings/learning-to-overcome Amy Klement is the managing partner and a board member of Imaginable Futures. She leads Imaginable Future's team and strategy and is responsible to the board for running the organization. Previous to spinning out into Imaginable Futures, Amy was a partner at Omidyar Network and led the Education initiative since 2013. Prior to this role, she was responsible for Omidyar Network's work in Financial Inclusion, Property Rights and Consumer Internet & Mobile initiatives in key geographies. She has held board seats or observer roles with Teach For All, Andela, NewGlobe, Imagine Worldwide, Kiva, Living Goods, Social Finance US, Mimoni and Off Grid Electric. Prior to Omidyar Network, Amy worked for eBay where she served as vice president of product strategy and operations driving the development of the company's long-term product vision and leading user experience and design and as well as vice president of relationship marketing, leading email, on-site and other retention marketing channels. Amy formerly worked for PayPal, joining as one of its earliest employees in 1999. As vice president of product, she and her team developed the company's payments platform, facilitated overseas expansion into Europe and Asia, and was instrumental in the launch of PayPal Mobile. Earlier, Amy worked in corporate strategy and development at Gap Inc., and as an analyst at JPMorgan. Amy received her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Bucknell University, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Amy is a proud mom of two miracles and wife of another.

How can venture capital be used to promote social change and environmental improvement? As a leading venture capitalist of her time and one of the early investors in Tesla, find out the drive behind Nancy Pfund’s incredible career, this week, on Cleaning Up. Nancy E. Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a venture capital firm whose goal is to combine top-tier financial returns with meaningful social, environmental, and economic returns in the regions and sectors in which it invests. Nancy is also the Founder of DBL Investors. Ms. Pfund currently sponsors or sits on the board of directors of several companies, including; Farmers Business Network, The Muse, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Off-Grid Electric, Primus Power, and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora. She also served on the board of SolarCity from 2008 until its acquisition by Tesla in December 2016, on both the audit and compensation committees, and chairing its corporate governance committee; Prior to founding DBL Investors, Ms. Pfund was a Managing Director in Venture Capital at JPMorgan, having started her investment career at Hambrecht & Quist in 1984. Previously, Ms. Pfund worked at Intel Corporation, the State of California, Stanford University, and the Sierra Club. Key links Official Bio http://www.dblpartners.vc/people/nancy-pfund/ Audio feature: smart finance for a sustainable food system (September 24th 2020) https://www.ft.com/content/ac7e52f5-245c-44b9-ba98-3aee3d899dd9 The Impact 50 list (September 8th 2020) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2020/09/08/impact-50-investors-seeking-profit-and-pushing-for-change-diversified/#5ba25ff13bce Hawthorn Club Thought Leadership Series - Investing through Disruption (March 2020) https://vimeo.com/413647258 She Made an Early Bet on Tesla. Here’s What Nancy Pfund Sees Now (August 9th 2019) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-09/she-made-an-early-bet-on-tesla-here-s-what-nancy-pfund-sees-now What impact investor Nancy Pfund is thinking about (August 2nd 2019) https://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-impact-investor-nancy-pfund-thinking-about Renewables Are Driving Up Electricity Prices. Wait, What? (March 12th 2015) http://www.dblpartners.vc/resource/renewables-are-driving-up-electricity-prices-wait-what/ Red, White and Green: The True Colors of America’s Clean Tech Jobs (September 2012) http://www.dblpartners.vc/2012/09/red-white-and-green/ What Would Jefferson Do? The Historical Role of Federal Subsidies in Shaping America’s Energy Future (September 2011) https://www.earthtrack.net/document/what-would-jefferson-do-historical-role-federal-subsidies-shaping-america%E2%80%99s-energy-future THE 2017 INAUGURATION: Empowering a Clean Energy Nation (September 2016) http://www.dblpartners.vc/resource/the-2017-inauguration-empowering-a-clean-energy-nation/ General news about DBL http://www.dblpartners.vc/category/dbl-in-the-news/ About Cleaning Up Once a week Michael Liebreich has a conversation (and a drink) with a leader in clean energy, mobility, climate finance or sustainable development. Each episode covers the technical ground on some aspect of the low-carbon transition – but it also delves into the nature of leadership in the climate transition: whether to be optimistic or pessimistic; how to communicate in order to inspire change; personal credos; and so on. And it should be fun – most of the guests are Michael’s friends. Follow Cleaning Up on Twitter: [https://twitter.com/MLCleaningUp](https://twitter.com/MLCleaningUp) Follow Cleaning Up on Linkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleaning-up-with-michael-liebreich](https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleaning-up-with-michael-liebreich) Follow Cleaning Up on Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/MLCleaningUp](https://www.facebook.com/MLCleaningUp) Links to other Podcast Platforms: [https://www.cleaningup.live/](https://www.cleaningup.live/)

GUEST BIO: Annyce Davis is a software developer and an Android Google Developer Expert which means she spends a lot of time developing videos, blog posts and conference talks.  She has also created several courses for Caster, O’Reilly and LinkedIn Learning.  Annyce is currently the software lead for mobile development at Off Grid Electric, a social impact startup. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Annyce Davis.  She has already had a varied career. Annyce spent 7 years working at the Washington Post setting up their online content offering and user re-engagement initiatives. During that time, she used Python, Hive and several other tools to get the job done. She was part of the team that created PostTV Android. Today, she is an Android Google Developer Expert working for the social impact start-up Off Grid Electric. Annyce has also created numerous courses, a teacher and public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.03) – So Annyce, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Annyce explains to Phil that when she is not programming she is busy settling her family into European life. The company that she works for recently moved their headquarters from Tanzania to the Netherlands. (1.57) – Phil asks Annyce to share a unique IT career tip with the audience. Annyce’s tip is to find a way to teach regardless of what you do within the tech industry. Doing that enables you to make a positive difference in the life of others and “sound down” whatever you teach within yourself. (2.32) – Phil asks Annyce to share more about what she gets out of teaching. She says it really helps her to hone her own expertise and make things firmer in her own mind. It pushes her to learn more and deepen her own understanding of a subject. If she has a complicated concept, she has to break it down so someone else can understand it too. This requires research, a process that deepens her understanding of the subject. (3.53) – Annyce is asked to share her worst career moment by Phil. Several years ago, Annyce had just completed a complicated project and was expecting to be promoted. But, that did not happen for her. Yet, other colleagues, some of whom had started after her, were promoted. At the time, she felt very down, but, learned several lessons from the experience. The first was the need to speak up. If you do not do that you can easily be overlooked. Make sure that your manager knows your goals and that you constantly check your progress towards them. Also, remember that “work is not school” you have to “advocate for yourself”. Let everyone know what it is that you contribute to ensure that you advance in your career. (5.12) – Phil asks how else that experience has changed the way Annyce works. She explains that teaching keeps you visible and helps you to vocalize what it is you know and contribute. It enables you to interact with a lot of people. You become a force for positive change within your own organization and help people across multiple departments. Understanding the need to promote yourself has helped her to understand the value of being a teacher within your organization. (5.41) – Phil asks Annyce what her best career moment, so far. Annyce said that recording her first LinkedIn Learning course was a big highlight. She recorded in front of a green screen in a real studio. It was surreal and made her feel like a celebrity. Amazingly, it all started with the little step of going online and sharing a few tips. When Phil asked if she gets much feedback from her course, Annyce said yes, loads. She really loves people coming up to her at conferences and thanking her for what she taught them. (7.27) – Phil asks what excites Annyce about the future for the IT industry and careers in IT, in particular. She is both excited by and worried about how reliant we are on Open Source software. Not that long ago, most companies would not let you use Open Source code. Now, we actively look for it before we build something from scratch. It is exciting because you can get things done quickly. But, it is scary too. If it breaks there is not always an easy path to resolution. (8.28) - Do you see opportunities maybe evolving as a result of open source? Yes, definitely. It does not matter where you are in the world you can work with so many smart people and learn from them. (9.07) – What drew you to a career in IT, Annyce? One day, Annyce was playing with her favorite game, when her teacher told her that if she became a programmer, she could make games too. She did, in fact, create a word game for Android. (9.50) – What is the best career advice you were given? Annyce’s unofficial mentor told her about “the rule of thirds”. Basically, whatever you put out into the world falls into one of 3 buckets. One-third of people will appreciate it, one third will ignore it and one third will totally ignore it. You need to take whatever feedback you get and put it in one of those three buckets. Doing this ensures you do not become distracted and can continue to move forward and achieve your goals. Phil agrees and shares the fact that he has also received similar advice.   (10.48) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Annyce says she would change jobs every three years. She is very loyal to her current company, but also realizes that staying in one place is potentially holding her back, in some ways. In tech, there is always another challenge in another place. (11.19) – Phil asks Annyce what she is currently focusing on at the moment. Annyce is currently building a small team. She is focusing on being a great manager, who programs. Rather than a great programmer who manages, so she is focusing on improving her management skills. (11.49) – What is the non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being able to explain complex things in simple terms, it is a skill that helps you to work with all kinds of people. (12.09) – Do you vary the way you communicate depending on who you are talking to? Yes, absolutely. While teaching middle school for a year, she learned different teaching methods. Now, Annyce definitely considers her audience when she teaches. (12.58) – Phil asks Annyce to share a final piece of career advice. Annyce says, just teach, and share what you know. Start small and watch your career grow as you help others to learn. BEST MOMENTS:  (2.13) ANNYCE – “Whatever you do in the tech industry, you should try to find a way to teach it.” (4.57) ANNYCE – “Work is not school. So, you don't just get an A, because you worked hard, you have to really advocate for yourself.” (5.28) ANNYCE – “Be seen, be vocal be visible, and to share what you know, with the community, because it also helps people internally in your own company.” (13.02) ANNYCE – “Share what you know with others and just watch your career grow.” CONTACT Annyce Davis: Twitter: https://twitter.com/brwngrldev LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annycedavis/ Website: http://adavis.info/

Nancy Pfund is perhaps the most recognizable venture capitalist in the clean energy space.Before she raised multi-hundred-million-dollar funds at her firm DBL Partners and made early investments in the likes of Tesla, SolarCity, Off Grid Electric, PowerLight, NEXTracker and Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Pfund had to start somewhere."In college, I didn't know what a venture capitalist was -- I was an anthropology major," she said at the January recording of Watt It Takes, the live podcast from GTM and Powerhouse in which cleantech founders tell their stories.In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch interviews Pfund about her successful venture capital career.Watt It Takes is a live interview series produced by Powerhouse in partnership with GTM. The conversation was recorded live in Oakland, California.The next live Watt It Takes taping will feature Sara Ross, co-founder and CEO of Sungage Financial, who turned her frustration at the lack of rooftop solar financing into a business opportunity -- with a little help from her daughter's college savings fund. It's happening Wednesday, February 21. Click here for tickets.Recommended reading:This podcast is brought to you by Fiveworx, a turnkey customer engagement platform for utilities. Find out more about how Fiveworx can help your customer engagement program succeed -- and get you beyond the meter

**Apologies for the poor sound quality** Adedana Ashebir has recently been tasked with heading up Village Capital's business on the continent. In this conversation, Adedana walks Andile Masuku through some of the thinking behind and the findings published in Village Capital's implicatory Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded report called Breaking the Pattern: Getting Digital Financial Services Entrepreneurs to Scale in India and East Africa. Among other things, this fintech-focused research highlights the fact that more than 90 percent of funding for East African fintech start-ups typically goes to expatriate founders (European or North American), and the fact that despite East Africa posting a record haul in terms of start-up investment ($84.7million or R1.13billion) over the last two years, a whopping 72 percent of that funding has gone to just three companies - namely, M-Kopa, Off-Grid Electric and Angaza. Adedana factors in on the lively debate that's ensued in the wake of the report being published, and shares candid insights on the awkward dynamics of navigating the continent's emerging tech scene as a repat.

Today I sit down with Vanu Bose, Founder and CEO of Vanu. Vanu attended MIT and in-between his undergrad and graduate work, spent two years working at a non-profit which brought him to over thirty countries around the world. After MIT, Vanu started a company based off of his PhD work, which was around the idea of software upgrades instead of hardware upgrades to update cellular network standards (2G to 3G to 4G etc), potentially saving the wireless industry billions of dollars. Their technology is being used in places like Vermont, India, and Rwanda where they are currently working to provide coverage to one million people who previously had no wireless coverage. Currently, there is over one billion people in the world who don’t have voice coverage. Vanu is looking to change that.   In this episode, Vanu shares among other things:                 How they revamped the business after the economic crisis of 2008                 How they were able to infiltrate a market with four major incumbent suppliers                 How they’re able to profitably run a wireless base station in what was previously an unprofitable location                 Why they chose Rwanda to prove the feasibility of their technology                 The biggest lessons he learned from his father, the founder of Bose Corp.   Links from this episode:                 Clay Christianson                 The Innovator’s Dilemna                 Off-Grid Electric                 Securus Technologies                 Bose                 Dr. Amar Bose                 Transatomic Power                 Getting Things Done                 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up                 10-Day Detox Diet                 Sleep Smarter                 Vanu on Facebook                 Vanu on Twitter   If you liked this episode: Follow the podcast on Twitter Subscribe on iTunes or your podcast app and write a review Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

After far too long a hiatus, the Magpie Talkshow is back with it's 17th episode. This week we wrap up the last of the interviews I recorded at Øredev last year, and hear my chat with Android developer Corey Latislaw. Mobile development in general is somewhat outside my wheelhouse, so I was very keen to hear about the challenges in that space. At Øredev, Corey did a talk about Android as the world phone, and during our interview we touch on a number of aspects of developing solutions for the emerging world, and how as a mobile developer you can start targetting the next 5 billion users. We also find time to talk about the merits of minesweeper for identifying algorithmic aptitude, Corey's work helping bring small-scale solar to off-grid communities, and why Android fragmentation might not be as bad as you might have previously heard. You can find more about Corey here: http://coreylatislaw.com, find more about Off Grid Electric here: http://offgrid-electric.com, and follow her on twitter here: https://twitter.com/corey_latislaw.

Xavier is the Co-Founder and CEO of Off.Grid:Electric, a distributed renewable energy company operating in Arusha, Tanzania. Off.Grid:Electric radically reduces the cost and risk of adopting solar energy for off-grid households worldwide, allowing them to replace kerosene with solar for as little as $2.50 per month. Xavier is a serial social entrepreneur. Prior to setting...