Thriving clean energy ventures are driven by more than lust for profit

Clearly, there is a big untapped opportunity to exploit if entrepreneurs can have an enabling environment where profitable renewable energy opportunities far outweigh inherent risks.

Our sunny skies and wide open spaces provide ample raw material to harvest both wind and solar energy.

However, entrepreneurs are still dogged by the existence of conservative banking institutions that are innovation shy and have cold feet in regard to extending credit to untried and tested business models.

The question of sharing profits between rural beneficiaries and entrepreneurial benefactors is another thorny issue bearing in mind the realities of development politics.

Public coffers

This scenario leaves the government with no option but to dig into public coffers to finance renewable energy projects which would otherwise have been efficiently implemented and managed by entrepreneurs.

It also enables philanthropic organisations such as the Gates Foundation to expand their footprint across economic sectors which could otherwise have been self sustaining if they were run by private enterprise.

Presumably, our dons at local universities who influence curricula will encourage students to take up degree courses in engineering and other disciplines that will increase the supply of expertise and competency in the field of renewable energy technologies in the not too distant future.

There is no reason why Kenya should not be a leader in the generation of renewable energy resources over the coming decades.