Meet the ‘Mother of Lights’ bringing hope to communities in Zimbabwe

For her rural community in Zimbabwe, Memory Mazivazvose is delivering hope in the form of solar lights to families without electricity. As a Namene solar lights ‘super agent’, Memory is empowering people – especially women and girls – to thrive through solar lighting. 

Memory Mazivavose remembers clearly the day the Namene team visited her village in rural Zimbabwe. “When Namene chose me to be a community sales agent, I knew that my life was never going to be the same,” she says.

Memory, like many women in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, was struggling to take care of her children as a single mother since the death of her husband. With no income and no formal education, it was difficult for Memory to even afford food for her family. 

Then everything changed when the Namene team came to her village in Marondera District, Mashonaland, in Eastern Zimbabwe. Through Namene, Memory found a new role in her community as a solar lights Sales Agent. 

“Being a solar light super agent has given me many opportunities. Not only have I brightened up my community and brought them hope through solar lights but I have now managed to pay fees for my children as well as put food on the table,” says Memory. 

Clean technology for communities in Zimbabwe

Namene’s purpose is to empower communities like Memory’s through clean technology. In Zimbabwe, there are 8.5 million people without access to electricity, representing 59% of the country’s population. This figure is even higher for rural households, where the percentage without electricity is 80%, meaning 1.2 million households are without energy access.

Memory with her signature SM200 solar lights in Zimbabwe.

Often women and girls benefit most from Namene solar lights. That’s because lack of energy access disproportionately affects them. Firstly, because women and girls spend more time at home, exposed to harmful fumes from polluting light sources. And secondly, because girls are more likely to be held back from education if families are struggling to pay school fees due to other expenses – such as kerosene fuel for lamps. 

Since becoming a Namene sales agent, Memory has distributed over 300 lights in her area. She’s even become affectionately known as Mai Malights or ‘Mother of Lights,’ and is easily recognised as she carries her SM200 solar lights with her wherever she goes.  

However she may soon find a new nickname as Namene’s solar charger Zafi and battery pack Zeri have launched in Zimbabwe. As a result, her customers can now access a wider range of life-changing clean technology products that can charge phones and other devices. 

Memory says she is most proud to have helped her educate her community about the importance of clean energy. “The solar lights have not only helped my community but also improved my children‘s academic life as they can now read and study throughout the night.”

Discover Namene’s range of cleantech products here.