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Rik Haanen,
Caption for the landscape image:

Accidental innovation: Fear of theft turned a stationary solar panel into a 'backpack' pump

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Rik Haanen, CEO of Jacana Foundation and innovator of the portable solar pump, at the Africa Agri Expo in Nairobi, on February 12, 2026.

Photo credit: Sammy Waweru | Nation Media Group

Mr Rik Haanen, the CEO of the Jacana Foundation, has spent years working closely with small-scale entrepreneurs in rural African communities.

He has travelled extensively throughout Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Ghana, and most of the entrepreneurs he works with are farmers.