Attempts to foment a re-volution in Haiti

Maarten Boute: Digicel’s chairman in Haiti

The Digicel diaspora continues to sprout up all over the place.

Re-Volt, a Haitian solar energy micro company co-founded by Maarten Boute, the telco's chairman in Haiti, is looking to raise a modest $50,000 by the end of today using the Indigogo crowdfunding platform.

The other co-founder of Re-Volt is young former Digicel executive Darragh Dolan, a University of Limerick graduate. His favourite food is potatoes, according to his executive profile on the company’s website.

The company provides solar energy packs to poor Haitians in remote locations where electrification is usually problematic. Customers pay Re-Volt $4 a month for the service, which is topped up using Digicel’s Mon Cash mobile banking platform. Another advantage for Digicel: more electricity means more people charging phones.

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Re-Volt has started small, and is currently installed in only about 800 households. But it is hoping to increase this to 2,000 by the end of the year.

The Indiegogo crowdfunding page says people can also funnel cash towards the initiative by sponsoring for $1,500 one of Jialing 150cc off-road motorcycles used by its sales team.

A re-volutionary idea...