A young entrepreneur from Nigeria is leading the way in the development of environmentally-friendly transportation.
Mustapha Abubakar Gajibo, a 31-year-old entrepreneur, started his journey by converting petrol-powered minibusses into solar-powered electric vehicles at his workshop in Borno state. However, he didn’t stop there and has now moved on to designing and manufacturing fully electric vehicles at his brand-new workshop in Abuja, the federal capital. His goal is to tackle two major challenges – the high cost of living and environmental concerns.
A young entrepreneur founded Phoenix Renewable Energy and started building electric vehicles in 2017. Despite gaining recognition and experience, he faced several challenges, including sourcing materials and funding. Nevertheless, he remained determined to expand electric buses in Nigeria and beyond. In an interview with local media outlet LeadershipNG, he mentioned that his company received interest from individuals in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, and Guinea Bissau who were keen to support his project.
He explained: “What actually motivated me into the building of electric vehicle is that everybody knows how the prices of fuel go high every day and also the prices of transport going high every day and the damage caused by another fossil powered vehicle to our environment …so I went into the electric vehicle to solve all those problems.”