The musician was born in St-Louis, Senegal, West Africa, and spent much of his childhood in the West African nation.
Because of his love for his home country and the continent
of Africaas a whole, the musician started Akon Lighting Africa, which
will bring solar power to one million African homes this year.
“The goal afterwards is a huge celebration, one huge concert to
celebrate getting everyone involved and raising more awareness,” Akon
told Entertainment Tonight. “More than anything, just to celebrate the
fact that people are coming together to do some amazing things in
Africa. The progress has been amazing! This has called out more
entrepreneurs and small business owners who are
passionately investing
into a lot of the infrastructure in Africa and who want to be a part of
the growth of African stability.”
The singer goes on to explain that there is always a warm welcome
whenever he tours in Africa. According to Akon, being able to travel
around the continent was a truly enlightening experience and inspired
him to try and help those in need.
“Africa is my biggest market when it comes to touring; it’s kept me
so busy that I haven’t had time to even tour the United States,” he
said. “Touring is what opened my eyes to what we need in Africa, being
in all those countries and visiting all those villages, and kind of
being a part of the culture itself has motivated me more than anything
to build an infrastructure there.”
