Solar Minigrids Bring Power to Rural Cameroon Villages

Jude Numfor remembers childhood nights in his mountain village of Mbem, Cameroon, lit only by moonlight and stars. When one neighbor turned on his petrol generator and small TV, children would sprint across the village just to peek through his window at the glowing screen.

That memory became Numfor's mission. In 2006, he cofounded what's now called Renewable Energy Innovators Cameroon to bring electricity to rural communities like his hometown.

His first taste of electricity came in 2001 when he moved in with a missionary family in the village of Allat. They powered their entire home with solar panels. "I could watch TV, eat ice cream, and turn on lights," he says. "It made me wish my brothers in Mbem had the same opportunity."

When the family's motion-sensor solar light broke, they told teenage Numfor to play with it like a toy. He replaced the dead battery with a motorcycle battery and brought it back to life. That curiosity sparked his journey into solar engineering.

REI Cameroon started by replacing dangerous kerosene lamps with rechargeable solar lanterns built locally from PVC pipes, batteries, and LED bulbs. Families rented the lamps for a small fee, swapping them at solar charging kiosks when they ran out of power. "The solar lantern was safer and cleaner, plus it gave children a chance to read at night," Numfor explains.

But villagers wanted more. They dreamed of powering TVs, music systems, and mobile phones. So in 2010, REI built one of West Africa's first solar minigrids, supplying steady electricity to six households using locally sourced components and wooden light poles.

"People immediately asked, 'When can we get this, too?'" Numfor says. The grassroots demand caught global attention.

In 2017, IEEE Smart Village awarded REI its first seed grant to expand minigrid operations. The program supports projects bringing electricity and opportunities to remote communities worldwide. Smart Village's backing helped REI secure additional funding from the U.S. Trade Development Agency and attract partnerships for developing open source energy metering systems.

The Ripple Effect

The collaboration goes beyond money. "We share ideas, we get advice, and we have made friends," Numfor says. "Entrepreneurship is lonely, but with the Smart Village community, it is different."

Each new minigrid transforms entire villages. Children can study after dark. Families can refrigerate food and medicine. Small businesses can operate longer hours. Communities that once relied on moonlight now have the power to shape their own futures.

From one boy peering through a window at a flickering TV screen to a CEO lighting up villages across Cameroon, Numfor is proving that access to electricity isn't just about power—it's about possibility.