Rekik Bekele, an entrepreneur committed to electrifying marginalized communities in Ethiopia

Rekik Bekele, an electrical enginer, co-founded Green Scene Energy in 2016, a startup that supplies solar energy to rural communities in Ethiopia lacking electricity.

Through her company, Greene Scene Energy, Rekik Bekele works to provide solar energy to areas without access to the electrical grid in Ethiopia. In 2009, while working at Solar 23 after earning her degree in electrical engineering, she discovered the challenges some communities face in daily life due to the lack of electricity. This experience left a lasting impact on her.

In 2014, she co-founded her first company, RK Renew Lighting and Cooking PLC, specializing in manufacturing ceramic stoves and solar lamps, particularly for refugee camps. In 2015, the company won the SEED Africa 2015 Award, a grant given to local social and environmental startups in developing countries.

In 2016, she founded Green Scene PLC, a start-up dedicated to providing solar energy to communities underserved by the electrical grid in Ethiopia. Within a few years, the company reached over 100 communities in various regions of Ethiopia and equipped more than 20,000 households with solar-powered electrical solutions. She works with microfinance institutions to make the purchase and installation of solar solutions affordable for disadvantaged and marginalized communities. Additionally, she collaborates with local communities to raise awareness about the benefits of solar energy and to provide training on its maintenance and usage.

The company also enables farming communities to access reliable agricultural machinery, such as water pumps, which allow farmers to cultivate year-round without worrying about having enough rainfall. To date, the company has provided over 80 farmers with reliable and affordable solar-powered water pumps.

In 2021, Rekik Bekele was named « Woman of the Year » by the Ethiopian Women in Energy Network (EWIEN). She was also selected in 2023 as one of the 25 women shaping the future by ChangeNOW. She is a franchise farmer at Purpose Black Ethiopia, an Acumen Fellow, and a board member of the Solar Energy Development Association Ethiopia (SEDA-E).