Mr. Kawago is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of WAGA, a company that produces solar lamps, power banks and small power walls, to help rural residents access clean and affordable energy for electricity and energy solutions, and urban residents cope with power cuts.
Currently, Mr. Kawago works with the Tanzanian radio station Wasafi FM, teaching over 13 million people on solving digital problems and raising awareness of new technologies.
He spoke to UN News during the 2023 ECOSOC Youth Summit, which took place at the end of April.
Gibson Kawago, a member of the UN Young Leaders class of 2022 from Tanzania stands in his workshop where he makes battery-powered products from recycled lithium-ion batteries
‘It’s hard to communicate with the outside world’
“Because there was no electricity in my village when I was young, those who have mobile phones cannot take money from them when the battery is exhausted. So, I would bring five to 10 phones with me on a bike, and travel around 30 miles to the nearest town with power.
But sometimes it will take two days to charge the phones, because of the queue. This makes it difficult for people to talk to outsiders, but we have no choice.
This makes you want to find solutions to this problem, of living in an area that is not connected to electronics. This is why I founded Waga, but we cooperated with NGOs and the government to solve the problem together.
Gibson Kawago, Youth Leader for the SDGs
‘Radio is strong’
I decided to join Wasafi FM because the radio is strong. You can listen on the public transport, at home or on your mobile phone. And nowadays we can stream online.
At the moment, I have a five-minute segment a day, where I share information about the latest trends in technology. I talk about things like internet safety, 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 hacking, and how to protect themselves from hackers who will try to steal their accounts.
So, I teach them how to protect their accounts, but also I get them on new technologies. There are as many technologies of mine as you give them access to and understand about. But people living in rural areas 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 still make a difference. At WAGA, we are also trying to help people fight climate change in Tanzania with our e-mobility solutions. We make power packs, for example, that can turn regular motorcycles into electric bikes. But first we need to change people’s minds. They need to understand why it is important to use electric bikes and, for that to happen, they need to learn.
Young people have a lot of power to change the world. And, as we saw at the Youth Forum, although we come from many different backgrounds, we are united in our collective determination, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The world makes a way for those who know where they are going. And we know where we are going. “
