By Charles Mangwiro and Farai Mutsaka
Hermínio Guambe used to cut hair in a tiny barbershop with no electricity in his village outside Mozambique’s capital. The arrival of power changed everything.
The 48-year-old now uses hair dryers. The village pharmacy stocks vital medicines requiring refrigeration. More jobs were created as trading and transport picked up.
“These are the kinds of businesses that drive economies,” World Bank president Ajay Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press during a July visit to tour electrification projects and meet entrepreneurs like Guambe. “Electricity isn’t just light, it’s a chance.”
Mozambique has won World Bank backing for the $6 billion Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric plant, southern Africa’s biggest such project in 50 years.
Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries by per capita income, aims to connect all of its 33 million mostly rural citizens to electricity by 2030, largely through renewable energy from hydroelectric, solar and other sources.
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