Akon: Got $1 Billion Chinese Credit Line & Gave Electricity to 80 Million Africans

now one thing I would want to talk to Akon about for a long time was the whole lighting of Africa thing and I feel like it gets so little publicity you know so let's let's have a real conversation about that because you you grew up in Senegal West Africa and I heard you actually grew up without electricity yeah none no electricity no running water I mean it was wondering like when I came to the United States and I saw how poverty was you know accepted here like the projects or what they claim to be projects Rock bled like I thought I thought I thought they was living in luxury compared to what profit but poverty is back home so it was it was it was kind of one of the things where I couldn't understand why people didn't appreciate that you never mean because it gets a lot worse so for those who's out there that's always worried about you know sandy living hard and life is not believe me you're living you got it a lot better than a lot of people around the world you don't Sam mm-hmm absolutely like people don't understand what third-world property man me no idea no idea whatsoever so so you literally had no electricity no running water at all like none no something for you to get water you'd have to go somewhere yeah well the thing is we got we got water but our water came from from wells like we had to you know walk about a half a mile down and share the well with the community so we all came we all cooked washed our clothes and drink from that same well water Wow you wash your clothes and drink from the same the same well that's crazy so tell me what what led to the akon lights Africa project well one letter that was after the success you know always my grandparents was you know I really say my grandma she's only where that still lives in Karla in that same area you know and she was one of those kind of people that like most grandparents you grew up in the hollers they not leaving that place they just not I don't care you can have a multi-million dollar mansion waiting for her in the city she's not going to leave where she's at to go away to the city she just grandparents like to be where they at were they comfortable with an environment where they feel you know suitable to be it but I went to go visit my grandma and I when I got there you know she's still pretty much every time I went I want to come and try to upgrade her you know I mean but she would never take it she would never allow me to do anything she want everything the way it is because this is what she used to and one day I said mom I'm not coming to visit you no more I got at least you got at least let me put some electricity in this house because there's no way we in 2010 and there's no electricity in your area so I said if anything at my grandma I'm probably the only one with electricity in this area coming to find out the grid was so far out that even if I don't care how much money I had there was no way I could bring electricity tore you know to me so that that moment that's when I said okay some got to be done about this this has to be a solution because now it's not just about my grandma everybody in certain rural parts of Africa are experiencing the same thing you know mean like they ain't got no electricity whatsoever and as you know without electricity you can't even begin to develop a country let alone your own home you know then so we got to the point where I was like a guy I just want to figure this out so I got with a couple partners you know billionaire partners of mine that I made friends with throughout my career and I wanted to build some power print power plant still on it you know like five power plant and all the major areas in Africa that those countries can actually share that power plant and it also also looked at our like a business because this would be my retirement at same time too so as I was getting all the investors together I started to bring it to a lot of the politics and energy and oil and all this other craziness and I started to realize how deep it was because this is the kind of business that actually starts real Wars so the politics was a little heavier than I expected you know and I just start feeling like it was some things happening around me that ain't supposed to be happening is it like what do you mean do you mean like I mean think about it I certainly extending the it actually makes them richer but the resources wouldn't allow it because of politics specifically certain parts of the country being ran by certain countries and dealing with the oil and the allocation of that oil to who was going to and so on and so forth so me building power plants in certain parts would mean that I would have to allocate a certain portion of that oil to keep those that feel burning so that's when I get into the political aspect that I don't understand well enough you file I'm saying but to make a long story short it was just too complicated for me to be dealing with you know I'm saying I'm like I mean I'm just entertainer I just trying to help and I don't want to get myself caught in some things that I can't get myself out of you know so I said let me find another solution and that's when I realized that it was mad other renewable solutions that can actually work but my thing was which solution would work out best for me that I could scale for you know for all of Africa because I want to just get all the rural areas specifically where you know the major oil companies aren't concentrating in and plus these are the areas where the most people need it anyway and that's when we came with the solution to do solar energy do I you know all the major rural areas so I went to China met up with some friends over there got with some manufacturers and then you know allied myself with one of the biggest companies in China that's owned by the Chinese government that mom some that manufacture solar you know plants and solar you know lights and and all the solar facilities and things that I made sure that we could use to pass gate back in Africa now the the advantages was and this would let me to go to China because China had built a full solo sub solar ecosystem for Europe in America but when Bush was in power Bush created 200 percent tax on all solar or all solar related and renewable energy coming into America and mainly he did it because he had his his agenda was in the oil he needed to keep burning right so anything renewable he wanted to keep away because it affected the money the business so he created 200 percent tax on all solar coming from China into America so all that investment those billions of dollars of investment that China put into this and they couldn't use it was just sitting in factories and sitting in China couldn't be used so I took advantage of that and went down to China and partner with some of those companies that couldn't use all that you know investment that they already already put for Europe and America and I asked them to be able to apply that into Africa so they gave me a billion dollar credit line to start my project and that's how it all started they gave you a billion dollar credit line now to light up Africa how did that feel at first I was like a billion dollars honestly I'm rich then I realize a billion dollars ain't for what I'm trying to do right cuz you're talking about continent yeah I didn't talk about it exactly so we had to prove what we could do with just that billion dollar credit line so our goal was to electrophile million homes within the end of the year and come to find out the need of it was so vast and the kind of contracts and programs that we create it was so needed the government's accepted us perfectly so we did count with your partnerships with all the government there did ppps and then ultimately we ended up don't now we're in like 15 countries in less than three years okay so 15 countries in Africa do you remember which countries oh man when we in Senegal Ghana I because uh Guinea Gabon anij a Qunari Mali I mean I because come or like we we we pretty much everywhere okay and how many people now have electricity in their house from our program I think it's probably impacting close to 15 16 million people now he's 16 see you Wow and that's it that's just some the light will have energy yeah that's just from the pilots that we put up now once we do the full scale of our programs which will all be done by the end of next year 2017 will probably be impacting close to 75 to 80 million people like this is a game-changer right here oh no it definitely is yeah well I like that this is like like on a Bill Gates kind of caliber in terms of you know immediately like the Bill Gates of Africa well I mean that's what it's turning out to be you know because we pretty much maximizing all the opportunities and we really got the we got a hold on a solar and renewable energy when it come to Africa we're probably fastest growing solar energy company in the world now because of that so and I know all the works that we've done in Africa triggered a lot of the Renewable conversations such as cop21 and all the stuff that you know that the UN is doing you know image the energy for all you know like we've been in the mix of a lot of that stuff and I know for sure that our efforts and what we're doing in Africa kind of helped to contribute to a lot of those efforts they're doing those program I mean you're essentially talking about a continent that's living in like the 1920s yeah you know that says actually was a big handles and I guess what like kerosene last to light up their house yeah they still was using kerosene lamps candles and coal just for cooking solutions right I mean because you're talking about no internet there's no electricity well see now that's the part that gets tricky because Africa when it comes to technology is probably more advanced than anywhere else in the country but they don't have an infrastructure so everything in Africa is all mobile base cell cell phones everything so we just completely skip landlines skip desktops we just leapfrogged all the way into today's newest technologies like we have programs on our phones in Africa that you can't even have access to in America or Europe because of that you know I mean like all resources put into cell phone you know developments over there you know I mean I remember I saw 60 minute special about how the mobile payment system is yeah huge in Africa yeah you know because everyone's got a cell phone they could just pay for everything using you know like you have little kiosks that just accept cell phone exactly exactly even while even even even my new way of how we launching and distributing music and film and everything is all mobile base for Africa well that's amazing it is actually just kind of disappointing how little media attention this has gotten no but it's actually good because it's allowing me to put in all the work I need to put in and then cuz believe it or not had I got there had I got all the media attention before I got up and running yeah I probably wouldn't have been up and running then is growing you know and it's only growing faster and faster and I'm glad it happened the way it did because it wasn't like the media blew it up it was blown up from real work you know real solutions and a plan that actually exists that's proven to work in Africa you know that's amazing man yeah that's amazing and you know and it's like you'll probably you'll probably be known more for that than for your music and that's what I don't I won't because I always felt like music was always a vehicle for me to do what I was here to do you know I'm saying always feel like everybody's here you know has a purpose for why they do what they do and why they here but I always feel like music was always that vehicle for me to become whatever it is in life God wanted me to become you know yeah and I mean it's usually when you see when you see people like this that made these happen impacts they come from rich families and whatever else like you were a poor senegalese kid growing up in a house with no electricity and now you're lighting up 75 million homes in Africa that's just mind-blowing yeah it's crazy I never thought in my wildest dreams that I being involved in energy I know nothing about energy five years ago like nothing I was completely you know said like yeah amazing now I remember you had an interview uh a while back and you said that America was never built for black people mm-hmm can you explain that I mean it's this simple we weren't I mean you got and black people were shipped here anything like they chose to be here trust me or had they not have been brought here they wouldn't be here they'd be in Africa right now and this world probably be totally different as far as what happens America probably wouldn't exist um the way I see it is I just it hurts me and pains me a lot that you know African Americans constantly complain about how they being treated in America and how the laws ain't fair and how it don't fit the minorities when they actually can always just go back home it's literally as simple as okay cool let me buy a plane ticket see what opportunities holds oh is waiting for me back home in Africa they want to do it you know but the problem is we've even brain watch to an extent to where Africa is almost not even an option like you mentioned Africa in the hood niggas start shaking they so afraid because they don't know like they have no idea what you know Africa has to offer what the situation's come from so this is why I concentrate a lot of my business even in Africa because I want them to see the the success that comes from Africa and the opportunities that exist in Africa and all these things that being done successfully in America Africa is wide open to build a platform like that for yourself without no competition matter of fact you will get not only support but you also get you know investors that will come on board like Africa has man is probably not only rich in resources but even rich in capital it just because there's no infrastructure system there's no money count because these guys carry cash majority of my shows I got more I got more money in Africa just from concerts and music related stuff that I've got in all of the world put together if I if I had all the money I made in the United States in Europe in China in Asia all in one in India all that and add a one-pot compared to the amount of money that I made in Africa Africa will probably triple that and a lot of people don't even know like a lot of people don't know like I don't reduce a lot of people into Africa as far as to what the possibility is I mean all the way down to 50 fat Joe Joe rule I mean you name it like a lot of those guys and their contests to it I mean once they were you know tasted a piece of that Africa money not that brown paper bag or brown garbage bag Dave was like yo we got to stay out here we got to see what that is but the opportunities is endless over there man and it's wide open market it's a virgin territory to where you could do whatever you want to do and I think imagine me trying to do energy in America it would never happen you got conned Edison over here you got a Georgia power over here you got shale you got Chevron they would never let me into the business ever but I'm in Africa now and I'm competing which people like shale competing with people like Chevron competing and not only that but they got to the point where that you said you know what that's just partnered with them and let's see what we can build together you know so that's how open it is like even they mentality or how they do business in Europe and America is different from how they do it in Africa because in Africa is so open and it's so much money to be made so much opportunity to be used and shared that there's no bias come with your raw skill and clearly create what it is you want to create there and be successful at it what do you think about the whole situation man my point of view man I really feel like they tried to paint a bad picture on my brother and try to make him look like like he was a hater it was envy jealousy type no insane and actuality nonsense brother been having this man he been in the condo I got my hat on and I had my coke bottles up under my hat and I'm sitting at the dinner table like a asshole with the hat or knowing she gonna tell me to take it off and I'm just sitting there just copping down you know in my zone she said take that goddamn hat off at the devil take Mike home um coat everywhere you

Channel: djvlad

Views: 1,675,105

Rating: 4.9144735 out of 5

Keywords: VladTV, DJ Vlad, Interview, Hip-Hop, Rap, News, Gossip, Rumors, Drama, Akon, Africa, Senegal, Electricity, Chinese Credit line, solar energy, Light Up Africa

Id: wfF9IjNOQN0

Length: 16min 31sec (991 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 24 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/DohRayMe]

http://akonlightingafrica.com/ Timeline goes quiet at 2016. There is a CNBC INTERVIEW interview from 2018

[u/itsMalarky]

"Whoah, you washed your clothes and drank from the same water...that's crazy"

No idiot. It's a well, not a septic system.

[u/Ynwe]

holy shit these comments here are a joke... West did nothing, China invested (and duuuh, wants something out of it) and Africa also gets something out of it... This is closest to a win Africa will get out of any deal, EU and US won't do jack shit. And all you guys do is shit on them. Honestly, these comments really feel like they are full of racism and anger that China is doing something. If it were the US/EU that did this, there would be nothing but praise, even if the same political implications were there.

[u/iLiftHeavyThingsUp]

His credit score must be godly.

[u/[deleted]]

Africa votes with China in the UN and this isnt by accident.

dont blame Africa either, they need investment, not handouts.

[u/BeefyTaco]

The guy needs to cut his fucking nails stat..

[u/ADustedEwok]

In terms of raw numbers, Akon has probably helped more people than any artist this century.

[u/thekleenexman]

Hey, mad respect for Akon. We need more people in this world like him.

[u/OnyeOzioma]

The assumption here is that;

1. Africans do not need electricity.
2. Electricity projects in Africa are not bankable.

Anyway, I will keep quiet. I live in Africa, worked in many sectors there, but people who haven't visited Africa for one day and probably can't list 5 African nations think they know more about Africa than we do.

It is predictable.

1. "China is out to exploit Africa"
2. "Africa is a black hole, let them have it"
3. "China will grant loans which can't be paid, and they'll seize those assets"
4. "China is stealing land from Africa"

The China-Africa relationship is very complex, but Westerners aren't interested in nuance.

China - Africa trade will grow, trade with India, Indonesia etc. will grow. Trade with US will decline - I am sure of this.

But Western stereotypes of Africa and China will not change.