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Altech is a company founded in 2013 by two Congolese, who grew up in a refugee camp in Tanzania after being forced to leave South Kivu during the civil war. The two friends wanted to develop a business that would help reduce their native country’s energy deficit. To this end, they have created Altech, which distributes small solar equipment (lamps, small domestic systems) to households in peri-urban areas, mainly in Kivu, a zone devastated by civil war.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second largest country in Africa. The country’s enormous size places it in a contradictory situation, with significant natural resources (copper, cobalt, lithium) but great difficulty in controlling such a vast territory with very few resources and structurally deficient infrastructure, particularly in terms of transport. The country is also deeply scarred by the civil war in Kivu, which has been the scene of armed conflict since 2004.
In a context where 90% of Congolese people do not have access to electricity, ALTech’s mission is to expand access to clean, reliable, renewable and affordable energy for off-grid and poor households. Since it began operations, Altech has successfully impacted 1.7 million lives. By providing equipment that runs exclusively on solar energy, Altech also helps to avoid carbon emissions, as customers previously used kerosene lamps for lighting.
