ENGIE has announced the appointment of Gillian-Alexandre Huart as Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE Energy Access, its ‘Access to Energy business in Africa,’ tasked with providing millions of households and businesses across the continent with clean and affordable energy.
ENGIE launched its ‘Access to Energy’ strategy in 2018, in line with the ambition of expanding its African footprint and impacting millions of lives on the continent. The strategy has now evolved into a full-fledged business with the integration of solar home system companies, Fenix International and ENGIE Mobisol; and mini-grids provider, ENGIE PowerCorner under one entity and one name – ENGIE Energy Access.
With this integration, ENGIE Energy Access is now one of the leading off-grid, pay-as-you-go solar and mini-grid solutions providers in Africa, serving over one million customers and impacting more than five million lives in nine countries – Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique.
Prior to his appointment, Huart was the managing director of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India at ENGIE Impact. He began his career as a consultant with Accenture before joining ENGIE in 2002.
In his new role, he will be responsible for driving ENGIE’s goal of maintaining market leadership and providing long-term impact on the lives of Africans.
“I am honoured and motivated to be leading a business with a mission that is key for ENGIE. Over 600m people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity and we have an important role to play in addressing this gap.
“With the integration of the three companies, we are now able to serve our customers according to their specific energy needs – from basic lighting and phone charging to more advanced systems for households all the way to powering productive use equipment to promote entrepreneurship and boost economic activity in rural communities,” said Huart.
