Impact Beyond Innovation: This backpack uses solar power so kids can study at night

Impact Beyond Innovation is an article series that features startups from Africa putting social good at the forefront of their business models.

Large parts of Africa remain off the electricity grid, meaning people are forced to use alternative ways of generating energy. These alternatives, as necessary as they are, are not always safe. The most commonly used alternative form of light is kerosene which is, according to the World Bank, the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

Growing up Salima Visram witnessed this: kids walking long distances to school, knowing they were being exposed to the dangers of kerosene. To tackle this problem, she invented The Soular Backpack — a backpack that doubles up as a source of renewable energy.