Wadongo, who grew up in rural Kenya, made his mark early by designing a solar lamp made from mostly recycled materials that could be easily built. In his first year in college, he used part of his student loan to produce more of the lamps – and eventually transformed the project into Sustainable Development for All, a social enterprise that is bringing both solar power and micro-enterprise development to rural communities and has benefited some 200,000 people. Wadongo, who has degrees in electronic and computer engineering, was recognized as one of CNN’s “Top Ten Heroes” in 2010 and was an Olympic torch bearer for the 2012 London Olympics. He is also the founder of Fail-2 Bounce, a new platform that enables people, especially youth, to share experiences on ideas that have been unsuccessful through social media and gatherings.
