Abuja Entrepreneurs Innovate to Overcome Unstable Power Grid and High Fuel Costs

Sandra Ogbebor leans over her quietly humming refrigerator, rummaging through bottles before pulling out a container of orange juice. She hands it to a customer waiting at her food stall, one of several informal shops nestled within an open-air market in the Nigerian capital. The customer drinks it quickly, tossing the empty bottle into a nearby bin—a clear sign of his momentary relief from the intense, sweltering heat.

Ms. Ogbebor operates her cold-drinks business primarily using a worn, gas-powered generator, a necessity given the unreliable nature of Nigeria’s public electric grid.

Approximately 90 million of Nigeria’s 242 million citizens have limited access to electricity, an issue that the World Bank estimates costs the economy around $29 billion each year. Years of corruption and poor management within the utility sector have compelled numerous business owners to depend on alternative energy sources, such as private generators.

Compounding these challenges, ongoing conflict in the Middle East has driven fuel prices upward, placing additional strain on small businesses across Nigeria. In Abuja, adaptability has become essential for survival.

Even frequent power outages cannot halt commerce at local beauty shops. When the lights go out, workers continue applying eyelashes to their clients, illuminating their work using the flashlights on their mobile phones.

ENERGETIC: Ahmed Umar (left) works with a client at a gym powered by a solar inverter at night.

The gym where Abuja resident Ahmed Umar is employed recently installed solar panels and adjusted its operating hours to early morning and late evening, avoiding the hottest part of the day to minimize air conditioning use. These adaptations have done little to curb his entrepreneurial drive. Regardless of the electricity situation, he remains ready for business.

“I sell gymwear; I sell gym equipment, too,” Mr. Umar, embodying Nigeria’s versatile jack-of-all-trades business culture, enthusiastically explains to a Monitor contributor. “If you need gym equipment, I’m your guy. I can facilitate your gym. I can design your gym.”

Vincent Nwonye, once a thriving generator repairman in Abuja, has watched his customer base dwindle as residents abandon even their backup power sources due to rising fuel expenses.

“They call us the giant of Africa,” Mr. Nwonye remarks with dry humor. “Maybe that status is yet to arrive.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Ogbebor relies on purchasing large ice blocks to keep her goods cold. She buys five blocks when there is no electricity, a situation Nigerians colloquially describe as “no light.” Even when the power is running, she purchases two blocks to reduce the time her generator needs to operate. Despite the heat, she refuses to give up.

“You cannot sit down at home,” she states firmly. “If you sit down at home, you will be even worse off. So, you have to keep going out.”

Resting beneath a red canopy near her stall, a group of young men gestures for Ms. Ogbebor to bring them more drinks. She hurries back to the refrigerator. Business, unlike the power supply, simply cannot afford to pause.

A DRAIN ON BUSINESS: Vincent Nwonye pull-starts a gas-powered generator after repairing it at a workshop. His business has dried up amid high fuel costs.

STOVE LIGHT: Aisha Umar (no relation to Ahmed Umar) cooks a meal over an open firewood flame using a flashlight.

CLEAN ENERGY: Teenager Gambu Tijani washes his clothes by flashlight. Some 90 million of Nigeria’s 242 million people live with limited access to electricity.

SOLAR SCHOLARS: Children read under a rechargeable solar lamp at night.

POWER BROKER: Mustapha Yahaya, who charges customers’ devices for a fee, plugs in a phone.

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