Fuel less generator, my resolve to solve Nigeria’s energy needs – Ishola

By Tunde Abatan

He is not your conventional engineer or inventor known to all, but  in his small corner in Alakuko, in the outskirts of Lagos State, he is making waves. Waves that has put smiles on the faces of about 60 industrial concerns and some private individuals who can afford his fuel less generators. which has made those in the need of alternative power supply heave a sign of relief that hopes are not lost.

Tunji Ishola

Although, his education for now is not beyond his vocational level after having cut his teeth with his machinist father when he left secondary school in the early 1990’s, yet his invention of this unique generator has push forward Nigeria’s quest for alternative source ofenergy.

But then, Tunji Ishola the Executive chairman, WindElectric Nigeria, did not just arrive at the fuel less generators, his marketing stint with Everfirst, an international company manufacturing inverters fueled his curiosity to solve emergent power problems.
“Something in me tells me, we can solve the power needs hence, I left my paid job and first produced the Inverter because I felt, I can do it.
This venture cost me N12million.”
Yet the urge for entrepreneurship made him partner with First mortgage Bank, which  provided the seed capital, “they soon buy me out of the venture after we have broken even”.

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Not done with his quest to make a difference, Tunji who  after his secondary education, horned his knowledge at POA Technical school, a vocational and technical school based in Lagos, saw the disappointment in the FBN as a blessing because,”they horned my business and managerial skill”. As for him, the bane of many start ups and small scale businesses are lack of managerial skill,which was the different between them and their ventures.

Men at work

“I can say that what I lost in rear invention by partnering with FBN, I gained in the three months business training I received as I learnt how to design business plan, product flow and management”.,
But then how does the fuel less generators work?
” it is a kinetic energy stuff, ” he disclosed. But he was quick to tell Newdawnthat fuel less generatorsare not new having been invented over 200 years ago.
How then is it new here? Hear him, “for your information, a company called Afprint used it here before it folded up. The whites expatriates only hide it for us”.
His curiosity and research, however, unveiled it in 1999 when he became curious about how to provide light in his village.
Having always been an apprentice with his father, a welder and fabricator, he met a certain Mr Jerk who retired from the then Nitel. Their friendship propelled him to invent his own Inverter from batteries.
To overcome problem of funding, he sold his fathers plot of land for  N280, 000 but his first attempt at producing Inverter, he sold it at a loss. I quoted too low price but after an eye opening experience, I discovered I shouldn’t produce for nothing less than N40,000 for those who can afford it.
Today, having learnt the trick of the expatriates who hide the fuel less generator, he has produced at least five brands of fuel less generators depending on the capacity of clients. From 2.5, 5,50, 145 and 1000kvas value at between N700, 000 to N33million, the jinx of dominance of fuel generating set is broken. Also broken is the secret of the whites who hide the technology for 200 years. Though, produced with  local ingenuity, the maintenance cost also comes cheaper and more affordable than imported products in its range.
The chief executive of WindElectric, disclosed that the cost of service once in a year for the 2.5kva whose production he has suspended because of inability of low income earners to afford it, is N50,000, 10kva=N100,000, 25kva=N200,000 while it will cost N400,000 to service generators between 100-250kva yearly.

Indeed, his Alakuko factory, has succeeded in making most of his over 60 clients who needed power to reduce cost of production by removing fuel and consequently reduce cost of products and make it affordable to the populace and thereby reduce poverty as a reduction in price of manufactured goods.
Said he,”Companies need not relocate to Ghana because of inadequate power supply and border closure. With this fuel less generators, manufacturing companies now spend less on power generation and production. The solution to power cut is at home. Those who ran to Ghana are now paying more for power for light than those who stayed behind because with this innovation, those at home spend less on power and consequently less on production”.
Apart from manufacturing concerns, hotels and farms now patronise his locally produced Turbines and inverters.
Hence,it is not out of place to say that Tunji has changed his story in spite of relatively little education, which he replaced with daring research and technological innovations that has unveiled 200 years hidden technology, which our numerous higher institutions, engineering schools and technological innovation centres could not attain even with government funding and support.