Women Champions in the Energy Sector

She was among the first women engineers to assemble solar and electric vehicles for SolarTaxi, a transport service start-up responsible for Ghana's first ever solar-powered fleet of vehicles. Apart from electric cars, the company also assembles solar/electric bikes, tricycles, and charging stations. Belinda's journey in the energy sector began when she graduated from high school and entered the New Century Career Training Institute, a vocational-technical school, to get a diploma in electrical engineering. She was one of only seven women in a class of forty-five and faced a male-dominated environment. Despite the challenges, Belinda studied hard and found a mentor in Mrs. Mawusi Nudekor Awity, the institute's director and the director general of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Ghana. Mrs. Awity advised Belinda on roles she could pursue as a budding engineer and introduced her to industry players from whom she could learn. During her time at NCCTI, Belinda applied creativity to her technical work and built an energy-efficient lighting system that only comes on during evening hours and automatically turns off in the daytime. After completing her training, she did a year of national service working at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and then joined SolarTaxi after seeing a flyer. Belinda trained for three months and immediately started working in the production line, where she learned welding and fabrication of metals, as well as cutting. Today, Belinda is one of the trainers at SolarTaxi's female engineering academy and serves as team lead for the car department. She is also pursuing a higher national diploma in mechanical engineering at the Accra Technical University and is scheduled to graduate in 2025. Belinda believes that more can be done to accelerate change, increase diversity in technical fields, and promote clean energy. She advocates for governments to create platforms for young people, especially women, to attend technical schools and emphasizes the importance of investing in people with skills rather than certificates. Belinda's achievements have been recognized, including the 'Hardware Engineer of the Year' award from the Ghana Ladies in Tech Awards in 2021. She is currently working on a new project involving a tracker for people's cars and is interested in exploring the internet of things (IoT) and its applications. Belinda's advice to women and girls who want to follow in her path is to be focused and determined, and to accept whatever comes their way.