When Innocent James completed his chores after school, he would light a kerosene lamp and lay down to read his books. There was no electricity in James’ part of Arusha, a region in northern Tanzania, and so his family was forced to burn expensive oil for him to learn after dark.
Today, James is 33, and many parents in rural Tanzania – where all year round the sun sets at around 7pm – must still choose between saving money and allowing their children to read at night. But now, James’ company, Soma Bags, is providing a solution: backpacks equipped with solar panels that charge a reading light.
What started as a small-scale project with some discarded cement bags, a sewing machine, and a solar panel, has become a business attracting charities and fashion brands from around the world. Last year, Soma Bags (“Reading Bags” in Swahili) sold 36,000 solar backpacks to people across Africa, providing an invaluable energy source for when the sun goes down.
Affordable light for rural households
James was brought up by his mother and grandmother, both schoolteachers, to love reading.
At university in Mwanza, James was shocked at the number of schoolchildren he noticed on the street skipping class to ask for money, largely to spend in local video game cafés. He wanted to help them find the taste for learning that he remembered from his childhood.
“I was frustrated,” James said, “I could see that the problem was much, much bigger than I thought.”
Before his last semester, James dropped out of university and used the last of his tuition money to buy a mobile library cart. He began visiting schools, attracting hundreds of children to his reading clubs.
But for all his hard work, there was a problem: children would borrow books from him and then return them unread. James soon realized that while they were eager to read, they could not afford to do so.
Fewer than half of households in mainland Tanzania are connected to electricity. This falls to just over a third in rural areas. Consequently, many families rely on kerosene lamps to provide light after dark.
These lamps produce dim light and are expensive to fill. They also pollute the air and carry the risk of burns. Parents often opt to send their children to bed, James explained, rather than allowing them to use the lamp to read.
James’ solution – flexible solar panels sewn onto the outside of bags to power a reading light – was inspired by a university professor who carried around a solar charger for his phone, sewn into a fabric pouch. “It gave me the confidence that what I want is going to work,” said James.
He started in 2016 by handmaking 80 backpacks per month, sewing on a solar panel sourced from China that charged during the children’s walk to and from school. By the time they returned home, they would have enough power for a reading light. A fully charged bag can power a light for six to eight hours, meaning that one day of bright weather can allow for multiple nights of reading, even if cloudy weather arrives.
James says the solar backpacks are more affordable than using an oil lamp. A solar bag costs between 12,000 and 22,500 Tanzanian shillings (approximately $4-8), with the reading light included – the same price as 12-22.5 days of using a kerosene lamp, according to an average cost estimated in a survey of Soma Bags customers.
Building the business
Sold mainly from his growing franchise of mobile library carts, the bags became popular, and James increased production. He founded Soma Bags in 2019 and oversaw the construction of his own factory in the village of Bulale, in the Mwanza region, in 2020. The company now employs 65 staff.
Made from repurposed cement bags found on the streets of Mwanza, where James lives, the backpack material is durable, lightweight, zero waste, and comes at no cost. The backpacks look good, too – in the middle of the bags, the white silhouette of a giraffe appears within bright yellow or green stripes.
“It’s innovative,” said Joseph Manirakiza, of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which has supported Soma Bags since 2023. “I never thought someone would think of turning waste cement bags into something useful.”
James’ customers are, in the main, families and schools in rural Tanzania – people and institutions with whom he is familiar from his library cart days. But the company is expanding; over 200 charities have bought bags from James to distribute amongst children in need, and Soma Bags is becoming increasingly popular in urban areas.
While inside Soma’s smaller backpacks are battery-powered reading lights, its bigger bags now have in-built charging systems with a greater capacity, enabling them to power other electronic devices, like phone chargers.
The company has also branched out into travel, sports, and cosmetic bags that aren’t solar-powered. James has sold backpacks to charities in Nigeria, Rwanda, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to fashion brands in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Kenya.
A growing industry
Around 600 million Africans do not have access to electricity. Companies that produce solar-powered lamps are abundant on the continent, and the UN’s Solar Light Distribution Programme is part of a global effort to light up rural areas with affordable and sustainable energy.
The hybrid social enterprise Smart Girls Uganda has produced and distributed over 12,000 of its own solar bags to children in Africa. “It is important for multiple companies to produce solar-powered bags across the continent,” said its CEO, Jamila Mayanja. “It’s more than just lighting; it’s about giving them control over their education, their future, and ultimately helping to break the cycle of poverty in their communities.”
Soma Bags has been recognized by numerous awards and institutions, including the UNDP and the British government.
“There is a crop of young people [in Tanzania] who are coming up, and they have realized that they have to take the future into their own hands,” said Manirakiza. “Innocent represents a group of young people using their talent to do something meaningful.”
As his company continues to expand, James is becoming increasingly busy, but he still finds time to run reading groups for children from his mobile cart twice a week. Now, kids arrive for his readings with his bags on their backs.
“Sometimes I see a kid with the bag, and I’m like, wow,” said James, smiling, “I can’t really believe it.”