William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba's keynotes offer a window into an incredibly resourceful mind and enterprising spirit. Being born in a small village in rural Malawi to poor parents, Kamkwamba did not have much growing up. In fact, he had to drop out of school because his family could not afford the tuition.

In Kamkwamba's village there was no electricity, but there was a library. One day the young boy decided that he would visit this library. He found a book, 'Using Energy,' which contained designs for electricity-generating windmills. Drawing on this book, but modifying the designs to suit his needs and constraints, Kamkwamba built a windmill using bicycle parts, blue gum trees and materials from a scrapyard. As explained in William Kamkwamba's keynotes,
this windmill was used to provide his village with electricity.

Currently, Kamkwamba is studying at Dartmouth College.