* THIS CONTENT IS FROM 2018. BACK TO HOME PAGE
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HANNAH OLMBERG-SOESMAN A dynamic entrepreneur with a background in social work and a degree in law, Hannah Olmberg-Soesman has managed to bring together the different strands of her professional life and plait them together into new opportunities for communities living in the hinterland in her native Suriname. Focusing also on women’s empowerment, she and her company team have been instrumental in introducing off-grid solar systems to remote villages, thus opening up possibilities for better school education, medical care and small- scale business to augment these families’ income, while at the same time proving that, once the initial outlay paid for, clean energy proves to be a determining factor of local development. |
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DOWNLOAD HANNAH OLMBERG-SOESMAN'S FULL PROFILE (PDF, 632,49KB) |
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Meet the 6 runner-ups
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| Ruth Spencer | Angella Rainford | Jonathan Barcant | Indra Haraksingh |
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| Joshua Hunte | Adrian Thomas |
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RUTH SPENCER Entrepreneur and winner of the 2015 Energy Globe Award for Antigua and Barbuda, Ruth Spencer has spearheaded a movement favouring the adoption of solar energy, while at the same time promoting this energy conversion as a multi-faceted solution to the development problems faced by this two-island nation. Harnessing solar power is a means of adapting to climate change and embracing a green economy through a community-centred approach aimed at enhancing education, promoting good environmental behaviour and offering income-generating opportunities. DOWNLOAD RUTH SPENCER'S FULL PROFILE |
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An investment professional, Angella Rainford has put her experience from the world of finance and business to give back to her native Jamaica by securing both the land and funding for a 37MW solar-power utility capable of producing clean energy, employing local people (including women) and reducing the country’s energy bill. Dynamic and versatile (she has a pilot’s licence and plays the piano), full of curiosity for the world surrounding us (as proved by her travels around the globe, including solo backpacking from China to Pakistan), Ms Rainford is a role model for women and young girls, an advocate of gender equality and an achiever who knows how to combine business, environmental sustainability and community participation. DOWNLOAD ANGELLA RAINFORD'S FULL PROFILE |
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JONATHAN BARCANT By profession a civil engineer specialised in soils, water and the environment, Jonathan Barcant has become a moving force in changing Trinidad and Tobago’s energy landscape. Realising that Aristotle’s maxim of “one swallow doesn’t a summer make”, he cofounded and is the managing director of an organisation, IAMovement, which has become one of the country’s leading civil society voices on climate change. Since starting out in 2014 as one of a few “swallows”, Mr Barcant has sparked a wide conversation around climate change, renewable energies and energy efficiency in the two-island state, taking the message of the need to transition to schools, businesses and ministry officials. In the process, his desire to help his country combat poverty while also nurturing the planet has become a passionate message of hope. DOWNLOAD JONATHAN BARCANT'S FULL PROFILE |
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INDRA HARAKSINGH An ardent defender of education as a means towards righting society’s ills and a vocal proponent of academia’s inclusion in solutions to address climate change, Dr Indra Haraksingh is a professor of physics at the University of the West Indies (UWI). At the Saint Augustine campus, she has put her convictions to the test, creating a programme dedicated to renewable energy technologies with the objective of training young professionals capable of modifying the Caribbean’s energy landscape, proposing local - and potentially innovative - solutions to global problems and focusing on green applications for the region’s two economic mainstays: agriculture and tourism. DOWNLOAD INDRA HARAKSINGH'S FULL PROFILE |
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Meticulous and methodical in his approach to the difficulties life reserves for everyone, Joshua Hunte has applied the same attitude to his work: instead of being overwhelmed by the scope of his undertaking, he has divided it into manageable steps and is making impressive inroads towards bringing solar power solutions to the energy needs of his native Barbados, and by extension to the Caribbean region. Mr Hunte’s story is one of someone who is passionate about renewable energy, for all the right reasons, because, in his own words: “it is a viable business, it saves money, and it saves the planet, all in one breath”. DOWNLOAD JOSHUA HUNTE'S FULL PROFILE |
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ADRIAN THOMAS A petroleum geo-scientist and renewable energy engineer, Adrian Thomas is responsible for launching RE-New Caribe, an initiative targeted at driving a “green energy revolution” throughout the Caribbean by working closely with schools and communities. Established recently as a non-governmental organisation, RE-New Caribe has already initiated activities about sustainable energy and recycling in schools on Tobago, with community projects in rural electrification also taking off in Guyana. The objective is audacious, but his willingness to put his knowledge and expertise at the service of civil society is bearing fruit, not least because he dedicates part of the profits he makes through consultancies for corporate clients and from his import business of LED light bulbs to ensure RE-New Caribe’s funding. His experience shows how one can make a real difference when combining a responsible business activity with dedicated, generous volunteer work at the community level. DOWNLOAD ADRIAN THOMAS' FULL PROFILE |
