Sandra Chukwudozie

Sandra Chukwudozie is a Nigerian female entrepreneur and clean energy activist. She is the Founder and CEO of Salpha Energy; and executive director at Dozzy Group. She is the daughter of Nigerian business magnate Sir Daniel Chukwudozie. Sandra is a Forbes Africa 30 under 30 Lister.

Quotes

• At Salpha, we are constantly innovating our operational processes to enable us to come up with entirely new ways of filling orders, developing products, providing customer service, other activities across our value chain.
• Businesses that only prioritize producing money risk squeezing customers for every dime without attempting to add value.
• An illustration would be when businesses reduce the size or content of their products to minimize expenses but keep the price the same in the hopes that no one will notice.
• Long-term gains from this kind of short-term thinking are not enjoyed by anyone.
• Numerous businesses across the world, including mine that call themselves social enterprises are already doing this by combining profit with a desire to improve society and address social issues.
• This idea needs to be applied to both large and small, conventional enterprises.
• As a Nigerian based business, internationally facing supply chain projects are challenging.
• The challenging business environment is exacerbated by fluctuating exchange rates, inconsistent tariffs, and delays in customs clearance.
• The Forbes recognition was a humbling and life-changing moment.
• It provided global validation and sparked a wave of new alliances.
• I am proud that a young, Nigerian woman like myself through hard work and grit gets to represent Nigerian entrepreneurism in such a positive manner.
• The best part about being an entrepreneur is the opportunity to have a vision and inspire other people around me to contribute towards actualizing that vision.
• I’ve always viewed myself as a rebel with a cause, solving issues that are plaguing the African continent and impeding growth.

Sandra Chukwudozie interview conversation

• I decided to leave my career at the UN to come to Nigeria to set up this solar energy business.
• The excitement was also to see how I can bring young entrepreneurs who could work with me to actualize my vision.
• The deal with All On is the $1million investment that is supposed to help Salpha Energy to scale its deployment of solar home systems across Nigeria and the plan is that we are focusing on the areas where people do not have access to energy.
• These people are the ones that have the most to gain and the most to lose from access to clean energy.
• We are also working with distributors to expand our services and businesses in the Nigerian market.
• We will be opening at least between 10 to 12 retail outlets in Nigeria including the South-South, South-East, South-West, North Central and North West.
• We had a project with All On, with the US African Development Fund, USADF.
• That was a project to deploy 2000 solar home systems at the entry level.
• It lasted for a year and six months.
• The aim of the project is to help people especially women in that area to have experience with clean energy instead of using kerosene.
• We finished the project nine months beyond schedule which is an important breakthrough for us to be able to scale this solution quickly.
• The challenge is that in solar energy, you do not see enough solar products in key marketplaces and we are trying to make sure that these products are visible and they are of good quality.

Working at the UN changed my mindset about energy — Sandra Chukwudozie, CEO Salpha Energy