Gibson Kawago and the WAGA Power Pack Story of the Young Tanzanian Turning Battery Waste Into Light

Gibson Kawago

Gibson Kawago’s story begins with darkness, not the poetic kind, but the real daily darkness that settles over many rural communities when electricity is absent. He grew up in Iringa, Tanzania, in a village where life after sunset depended heavily on kerosene lamps. Those lamps were common, but they came with smoke, risk, cost, and limitation. They lit rooms poorly, made studying harder, and exposed families to unhealthy fumes. For many children, night meant the end of productivity. For Gibson Kawago, it became the beginning of a question that would shape his life: must people remain trapped by a lack of reliable power? 

That question stayed with him. While many people experience hardship and simply learn to endure it, Gibson seems to have been the kind of young mind that wanted to test, fix, and rebuild. According to WAGA’s own account of its origins, he began collecting batteries and experimenting with basic power banks using simple materials. It was not a polished laboratory beginning. It was curiosity meeting necessity. That is often how the most relevant African innovations are born, not from luxury, but from urgency. 

As he grew older, that curiosity matured into technical ambition. Gibson studied Electrical Engineering, and he also built his knowledge through online courses and fellowships. In interviews, he explained that this learning journey helped him move from simply collecting batteries to building a real solution that could serve homes, small businesses, and off grid communities. The company that emerged from that journey was WAGA, a Tanzanian clean energy venture built around circular technology and battery reuse. WAGA was formally registered after those early experiments and early wins gave the project momentum. 

At the center of this venture is the invention most closely associated with Gibson Kawago: the WAGA Power Pack, sometimes also referred to in sources as the WAGA PAWA Pack. It is a rechargeable power source made from recycled laptop lithium ion batteries. Instead of allowing used batteries to pile up as waste, WAGA collects, sorts, tests, and repurposes viable cells into new battery packs that can store and deliver electricity for useful everyday purposes. This is the genius of the idea. It attacks two problems at once. First, unreliable or absent electricity. Second, growing battery waste. 

To understand why this matters, one has to look at the environment in which the invention was created. Tanzania has made progress in electrification, but access remains uneven, especially in rural communities. In his own report on the work, Gibson noted the challenge rural households face and the continued dependence of many on kerosene lighting. The Africa Prize materials also describe the WAGA Power Pack as a response to Tanzania’s unreliable electricity supply and the negative effects that unreliability has on safety, health, and the economy. So this was never just about making a gadget. It was about addressing a daily structural problem. 

The WAGA model starts with collection. Used and non functional laptop batteries are sourced, including from places like repair centers and electronics markets. In Gibson’s published account, WAGA collected many of these batteries from Kariakoo, a major Tanzanian market with laptop repair activity. The batteries are then taken apart. Individual cells are separated, sorted, and tested. Only the cells that still meet standards are reused in production. The rest are set aside for proper recycling, while plastic housings are sent to recycling partners. This is important because it shows the company is not simply reusing waste blindly. It is applying a process of screening and safety. 

From those recovered cells, WAGA assembles power packs in different forms and voltages. Public descriptions of the innovation mention 12 volt, 24 volt, and 48 volt packs, designed for different applications. In one technical description by Gibson, a power pack had a capacity of 480 watt hours at 12 volts, housed in an Alkabond casing, with input and output terminals for charging and powering devices. The battery pack could be recharged either through a solar panel or by electricity from the grid. That flexibility matters in places where grid power may be inconsistent but still available at intervals, or where solar charging offers independence from the grid altogether. 

What can the WAGA Power Pack do in practical terms? Quite a lot. Sources describe it as suitable for lighting homes, charging phones, running televisions, powering radios, supporting businesses after sundown, and even serving electric bikes and power banks. WAGA also states that it makes compact packs and larger models capable of powering multiple lamps and a television. The official Africa Prize profile adds that depending on the battery size and purpose, a WAGA power pack can provide electricity for anywhere from about 13 hours to as long as one month. That broad range reflects the fact that these systems are customized for different use cases, from simple lighting to larger backup needs. 

That practical usefulness is what gives the invention real social depth. Imagine a kiosk owner who usually closes once daylight fades because kerosene is costly and unsafe. A portable battery pack means more business hours and potentially more income. Imagine a family that can light a room for children to study at night without breathing kerosene smoke. Imagine a household that can charge phones reliably, keep a radio on, or watch television without waiting helplessly for grid power to return. The invention may sound technical, but its meaning is deeply human. It stretches the day, reduces stress, supports work, and gives people more control over their lives. These are not abstract benefits. They touch livelihood and dignity. 

What makes Gibson Kawago especially interesting is that he did not stop at the idea level. He built a system around the invention. WAGA’s operations involve not only technical assembly but also job creation. Gibson wrote that women and youth were part of the battery collection effort, trained to safely handle and transport used batteries. As the company grew, it also hired more people into its workshop and assembly work. WAGA has presented itself as more than an energy startup. It is also a social and environmental enterprise trying to create local employment while reducing waste and improving access to power. 

This is where the invention becomes even more powerful conceptually. Many people see waste and see the end of a product’s life. Gibson saw waste and asked whether there was still value inside it. That question reflects a circular economy mindset. Instead of mining value from scratch each time, circular innovators recover useful materials and extend their lifespan. In WAGA’s case, that means giving laptop batteries a second life inside products that serve energy poor communities. This approach can cut waste, reduce pressure on the environment, and lower the cost of useful energy devices. UNICEF’s interview with Gibson highlights this clearly, describing WAGA as a provider of battery solutions through recycling and reusing lithium ion technologies. 

There is also a climate argument in his work. Gibson has spoken openly about concern for both the short term and long term effects of climate change. He links polluting household energy choices such as kerosene lamps and diesel generators with broader environmental harm. WAGA’s answer is to substitute cleaner battery based solutions, especially those paired with solar charging. By doing that, the invention is not only solving an energy access problem. It is also trying to shift the direction of local energy use toward something less harmful. 

Recognition followed. Gibson Kawago was named among the 2023 finalists for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, where the WAGA Power Pack was highlighted as an innovation delivering reliable and affordable electricity from recycled laptop batteries. That shortlist matters because the Africa Prize is one of the continent’s best known engineering innovation platforms and tends to spotlight solutions with strong practical value. Public materials from the Royal Academy of Engineering described him as a Tanzanian electrical engineer recycling laptop batteries to provide reliable and affordable power for electric bikes, solar lights, homes, businesses, and other uses. 

He was also selected by the United Nations as one of the Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2022 cohort. The official UN Youth Affairs profile presents him as a climate entrepreneur and founder of WAGA. It notes that he spent years volunteering, guiding youth, and working at the intersection of technology, opportunity, and development. Another UN briefing described him as someone born in a Tanzanian village with no electricity who went on to build a business producing off grid clean electricity for communities like his own. That same UN material reported that his team had utilized over 13,000 recycled batteries in their work. 

That figure is striking because it shows scale beyond experiment. Many innovators build prototypes. Fewer move far enough to demonstrate repeated deployment and measurable material recovery. If WAGA had already utilized more than 13,000 recycled batteries by the time of that UN briefing, it suggests an operation that has advanced beyond a single workshop demonstration into something with meaningful throughput. Even if the exact number has changed since then, the implication remains strong: Gibson’s invention has been applied in the real world, not just described in speeches. 

WAGA’s product range also suggests that the Power Pack was not a dead end invention but part of a broader energy platform. Public descriptions linked WAGA’s reused battery systems to solar lamps, power banks, mini power walls, charging stations, and electric bike applications. One profile even noted that the company aimed to provide dependable battery solutions in collaboration with institutions and solar companies. That kind of ecosystem thinking matters because rural electrification and backup power problems are rarely solved by one object alone. They require networks of products, repairs, users, partners, and trust. Gibson appears to understand that. 

Still, stories like this should not be romanticized too quickly. Building a clean energy company in Africa is hard. Gibson himself has said that scaling the innovation and finding initial funding were among the major challenges. There is also the challenge of public perception. Recycled batteries can sound risky to people who do not understand the testing and assembly process. Any company in that field must prove safety, reliability, and long term value. It must also develop the technical discipline to reject weak cells, maintain standards, and earn customer confidence. That WAGA gained international visibility suggests it has made meaningful progress, but the challenge of scaling high quality clean tech in emerging markets remains real. 

The emotional center of Gibson Kawago’s journey may lie in a simple transformation. A child once lived in the problem. An engineer grew up to build the answer. That is the kind of full circle story that resonates across the continent. It speaks to a generation of Africans who have firsthand experience of broken systems and who are choosing not just to complain, but to design alternatives. WAGA is powerful because it is rooted in lived reality. Gibson did not have to imagine the pain of energy poverty from a distance. He knew what it meant to go without dependable light. 

His proudest moment, according to UNICEF, was seeing his first client use one of the battery packs. That detail is revealing. For some founders, the biggest thrill is investment or media attention. For Gibson, it was the moment the invention became useful to another human being. That says something about the heart of the project. It is innovation measured by service. Not invention for applause, but invention for impact. 

There is another reason this story deserves attention. Africa’s energy future will likely require multiple layers of solutions. National grids matter. Large power projects matter. But decentralized clean energy also matters, especially for scattered populations, fragile grids, and small businesses that cannot wait for perfect infrastructure. Entrepreneurs like Gibson Kawago operate in that space between national ambition and household need. They build the devices and systems that make daily life more workable even before full universal electrification arrives. In that sense, the WAGA Power Pack is not just a battery product. It is part of a broader philosophy of practical transition. 

The invention also challenges a common assumption about technology in Africa. Too often, technology is imagined as something imported, expensive, and distant from the realities of ordinary people. WAGA flips that script. It is local in origin, deeply shaped by local problems, and materially built from what others considered useless. There is something profoundly African in that kind of innovation, not because it is limited, but because it is adaptive, resourceful, and grounded in community need. The raw materials are not glamorous. Old batteries do not look like the future. But in Gibson Kawago’s hands, they become stored sunlight, working capital, children’s study hours, safer nights, and a little more freedom from the uncertainty of blackout life. 

His story also carries symbolic power for youth innovation. The United Nations recognition and Africa Prize shortlist show that the global development and engineering community saw something important in his work. Not just the cleverness of the technology, but its relevance. A founder from Tanzania, shaped by rural energy hardship, builds a company that recycles used laptop batteries into affordable energy systems, creates jobs, reduces waste, and serves communities often ignored by mainstream infrastructure. That is not merely a startup narrative. It is a development narrative, an environmental narrative, and a generational narrative all at once. 

Today, Gibson Kawago stands as more than an inventor. He represents a type of African builder whose work sits at the meeting point of engineering and social change. His invention, the WAGA Power Pack, is practical enough to be used in homes and businesses, but meaningful enough to stand for something larger. It stands for the idea that energy access can be reimagined. It stands for the idea that waste can become resource. It stands for the possibility that a child who once lived without light can grow up to manufacture light for others.

And perhaps that is the most beautiful part of the story. WAGA did not begin in abundance. It began in lack. It did not begin with polished machinery and global headlines. It began with observation, frustration, and experimentation. It began with the simple refusal to accept darkness as normal. From that refusal came a company. From that company came a product. From that product came a message that reaches far beyond Tanzania: some of the most important inventions are born when someone decides that the problem they suffered should end with them.