The effectiveness of RenewableTechNigeria is not solely derived from its innovative and tangible solutions but also from the collaborative synergy among its diverse consortium partners. A key factor contributing to the cluster’s success is its comprehensive training program and curriculum, strategically designed to empower Nigerian professionals with the technical, marketing and sales expertise needed to deploy, maintain, and sell off-grid solar systems.
Two trainees from SOSAI Renewable Energies, a prominent Nigerian renewable energy company, gained invaluable insights and knowledge for two weeks in The Netherlands in November 2023.
The two-week training encompassed various aspects and included visits to the Dutch consortium partners. These visits involved gaining technical understanding from Independent Energy, learning engineering principles from SEECE, acquiring sales and marketing strategies from Dawson Group and valuable insights on the PolarStore from at Dawson Group. These elements are crucial for the successful implementation of solar projects.
Hatim Mala, representing the Sustainable Electrical Energy Centre of Expertise (SEECE), provided insights into the complexities of the curriculum’s development:
“If you look at the identification of the problems when Dutch companies come to penetrate the Nigerian market. One of the areas that was identified is that the potential customers lack the knowledge to identify the value of a potential business case and lack in terms of maintenance and installation skills. And that’s why we’re trying to address it with this training.
So, by having that knowledge [through the curriculum], it will allow the potential customers to value the business cases that are brought by the Dutch companies and for them it will become cheaper if they already know how to install and maintain the system.”
Peter Sayo Ayoade, one of the trainees from SOSAI Renewable Energies, noted the following on the training:
“We are here to see how to synergize the collaboration, the synergy between the companies, which is SOSAI renewable energies, Dawson, SEECE, Independent Energy. To see how the new cold storage system works and is maintained and at the end of the training to go back to Nigeria and fully push it on the market and see how the market can assert it.”
The next training in Nigeria will commence in February 2025
