Hip Hop star Akon received more than $1 billion investment from China for his "Lighting Africa" project.

The 43-year-old singer teamed up with a state-backed Chinese solar manufacturer and made use of unused solar products available to build solar panels in Africa, The Boom Box reported.

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"So I went to China, met up with some friends out there, some manufacturers, and aligned myself with one of the biggest companies in China, that's owned by the Chinese government, that manufactures solar," he told VladTV. The company eventually agreed to give Akon a staggering $1 billion to begin his mission.

Now, Akon's project already covers 15 countries and has light up the homes of 16 million African people. He wants to continue his work over the next decade and provide electricity to 80 million people in Africa.

When asked what inspired the I'm So Paid singer to initiate the program. Akon said it was his grandmother.

"Every time I would come, I would try to upgrade her, but she would never take it. One day I said, 'Ma I'm not coming to visit you anymore... you have to at least let me put electricity in the house," he recalled. "Come to find out the grid was so far out; I don't care how much money I had, there was no way I could bring electricity to her."

That incident pushed Akon to help not only his grandmother but also other African people living in the dark without electrical power. "Without electricity, you can't even begin to develop a country, let alone your own home."

The project, which immediately started after it was launched in 2015, is headquartered in the Malian capital, Bamako in West Africa. It has been organized in an academy form, creating an avenue for African engineers and entrepreneurs interested in solar energy to develop their skills to enable them to produce solar power themselves, Neon Nettle reported.

TagsAkon, Akon Lighting Africa, Africa, solar panels, Akon Africa