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Game Changers Ouédraogo, Coulibaly, Koné: One motto…innovation!

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This article is part of the dossier:

Game Changers

By Quentin Velluet, Estelle Maussion

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Posted on December 28, 2021 12:06

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From Burkina Faso to Côte d’Ivoire, whether it’s electricity, agriculture or digital technology, these leaders are doing everything they can to shake up the status quo.

This is part 7 of an 8-part series

Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo, driving force behind solar electrification

jad20211202-gamechangers-serie6-bachirismaelouedraogo-600x900 © Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo © Stéphanie Scholz/Colagène

Electricity consumption is skyrocketing, but production is not keeping up, and energy imports are becoming increasingly expensive. This is the problem that Burkina Faso must solve. The country is forced to import nearly 60% of its energy from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to meet a demand for electricity that has been increasing by nearly 10% per year since 2012.

Yet the country has already started to get out of the rut. And, in the opinion of several sector specialists, it is thanks in part to Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo, minister of energy. Appointed in 2018 during the first term of Marc Christian Kaboré, the 40-year-old trained in the United Kingdom and is an expert in renewable energy. He was reappointed to his post at the beginning of the year while seeing his duties extended to mines and

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