Success Story: Patrick Ngowi

32-years old (born January, 1985) Patrick Ngowi is a Tanzanian Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Climate Reality Awareness Leader, Public Speaker, Youth Mentor, Published Columnist and Philanthropist. He is the Founder and Chairperson of Helvetic Group which has numerous subsidiaries operating across Africa (Wikipedia)

Photo Credit: forbes.com

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Patrick has achieved a lot. He's won some awards and his hard work is paying him financially. He made Forbes list of 30 under 30 Africa's Best Young Entrepreneurs and Forbes list of Young African Millionaires to Watch in 2013. He was named as East Africa's Young Business Leader of the Year 2014 by Forbes and CNBC. There are a few more, but with Success Stories, we'll focus on how he made his success.

Patrick, founder of Helvetic group, one of East Africa's top solar company that deals on solar installation, maintenance and supply in Tanzania and some other African countries, had parents who were both teachers and loves education. Growing up, Patrick always had a business mindset and he always tried to make good use of business opportunities and render services.

At age 15, while still a high school student, he observed the lack of top up vouchers in the community where he resides (Arusha) and how people had to go long distances to get one. He took the opportunity, obtained about $50 from his mum and started selling top up vouchers. He achieved this with the assistance of some fuel station pump attendants, since he's still in school and would spend a greater part of his day at school. He made some money from this and he enjoyed the experience as well as the little financial independence he got.

At age 18, after high school and before going to the Uni, he saw another challenge in his community. Phones were expensive and a lot of persons couldn't afford having one. He personally wanted to have one, and was able to come up with a solution. He obtained a loan (about $1,800) from his mum, and with a free ticket from a friend that would allow him travel to and fro China, he was able to journey to Hong Kong  where he acquired mobile phones at cheaper prices which were much more affordable. He sold over 5,000 mobile phones and made a great margin of profit (he made about $150,000 at the end of the year).

Another challenge presented itself. Power supply was not reliable, which means it will be a challenge for people to power their phone batteries regularly. This led Patrick to solar energy. He saw the usefulness and future it holds. Because of the value his parents had for education, Patrick had to go ahead with his education. But he used his eduction to get himself updated and knowledge-equipped on solar energy. He was able to finance his eduction with help from the cash he made from selling mobile phones. He studied renewable and alternative energy at Denzhou University in China.

While in China, Patrick saw another business avenue he could use to render services and make some little profit. He exported building materials and some other commodities which are cheaper at China, back to Tanzania.

After completing his education at Denzhou University (in 2007), Patrick returned home to start his own solar energy business. He started alone, doing the installations and maintenance with the aid of the equipment he acquired from China. It was surely challenging. He sometimes felt he was in the wrong business, but he persevered and kept pushing. As he built his brand, at a time, he started getting contracted by government and non-government agencies and organizations. From 2011, his company started making millions in dollars from solar energy services.

Patrick launched a nonprofit foundation (Light for Life Foundation) in 2012, which help provide free solar power supply to rural communities, as a way of giving back to the community. The foundation provides a portable solar kit that can take care of basic lighting and power mobile phones as well.

Hope this inspired you? What do you learn from this?