William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba is a young talented inventor from the Masitala village in Malawi who built an electric windmill out of junk at age 14. All he ever wanted was for his village to have electricity and running water which he helped the village achieve. Forced to drop out of school because his parents couldn’t afford the fees, he decided to learn by himself by reading books from the local library. Fascinated by science, he ran past a book about windmills and realised he could make electricity and pump water for his village. The book wasn’t about building windmills; but he used the images to figure it out and built the windmill from spare bicycle parts, a tractor fan blade and old shock absorber. A couple of windmills and water irrigation systems later he’s invited to international technological conferences and being interviewed for the Wall Street Journal. He’s now on a scholarship program at the elite African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg with the dream of having his own windmill manufacturing company and transferring knowledge to young Africans.