Yohannes Bimrew Simegn

Yohannes’s story begins in the northern mountains of Ethiopia, where his family lived without electricity, healthcare, or reliable education. As a child, he walked over three hours each day to attend school and studied by the dim, smoky light of kerosene lamps – a source of indoor air pollution that caused his mother severe health issues. These early struggles didn’t just shape his childhood – they inspired a lifelong mission: to bring light to communities like his.

At 12, Yohannes began tinkering with broken solar lights and eventually built his own lighting system using bamboo and salvaged materials. This ingenuity brought clean, safe light to homes and enabled over 1,600 rural students to continue studying after dark. By 15, after moving to Addis Ababa for better schooling, he co-founded HuluSolar Energy, a youth-led social enterprise that provides affordable solar home systems to off-grid communities. To date, HuluSolar has impacted more than 5,000 lives, powered five schools, helping to extend study time at these schools by four to five hours every day, and trained youth in energy entrepreneurship.

A full-scholarship recipient to Lebawi International Academy and now a Mastercard Foundation Scholar at EARTH University in Costa Rica, Yohannes is pursuing a degree in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resource Management. His current research focuses on integrating renewable energy with rural farming systems through agrivoltaics and solar irrigation.

Yohannes’s journey has garnered international acclaim. He was selected from 57,000+ applicants as an IRENA Youth Delegate and later won the IRENA NewGen Rising Star Award. He has spoken on stages including TEDx Pura Vida and the Mastercard Foundation Baobab Summit, and he leads EARTH University’s Renewable Energy Research & Development Center.

To expand his impact, Yohannes launched CARED – the Center for African Renewable Energy Development – a non-profit empowering young Africans to innovate and implement renewable energy solutions, helping to achieve his goal to empower the next generation of innovators with the tools and mentorship he lacked growing up. He also continues grassroots efforts in Ethiopia, including distributing educational supplies, restoring access to schooling in conflict-affected areas, and planting trees to honor his late father’s environmental legacy.

Yohannes’s work embodies resilience, creativity, and commitment to justice. His innovations have already reduced 53 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, with ambitions to scale HuluSolar to reach 1.2 million people and 125 schools by 2030. He sees energy not just as electricity, but as a catalyst for education, health, communication, and economic opportunity.

Through personal hardship, from the loss of his brother to the trauma of conflict, Yohannes has remained grounded in purpose. His dream is clear: to ensure that no child, no matter how remote their village, is left in the dark. For Yohannes, innovation begins with empathy – and progress begins with light.