Media

Media

Over the years, Lifeline Energy has received print and electronic media coverage from a wide spectrum of sources.  Some journalists wanted to report on our products, others our work and others on our founder and CEO, Kristine Pearson.

We invite you to explore our Media section, to read articles written about us, check out our press releases and to watch videos about our work.  Some videos we’ve made and are snapshots of visits to the field and others have been created by major international news organisations.  Note that some of the older media refers to us as the Freeplay Foundation, as that’s the name we were known as prior to 2010 when we changed our name and identity to Lifeline Energy.

If you’re a journalist and would like more information, please email us at hello@lifelineenergy.org.

KBC radio donation

KBC Mwago FM donates radio sets to Tharaka Nithi schools

Pupils from five schools in Tharaka Nithi County had a reason to smile after KBC presenters from Mwago FM visited with personal hygiene donations and radio sets for school broadcasts.
Sourcefabric interface for RVB

Medium - Closing Rural Africa’s Information Gap

By Kristine Pearson and Sava Tatić Called Radio Voice Bank (RVB), we are building the equivalent of YouTube for audio. Once launched, RVB will be the world’s first open source and searchable library of curated MP3s for rural African listeners.
Gabra community receiving radios

Weekend Argus - Tuning Africa in to wireless

On the heels of World Radio Day on Saturday, Kristine Pearson, the founding chief executive of Lifeline Energy, an organisation which distributes wind-up radios to assist with education around Africa, talks to Sue Barkly about her work and her latest dream – to “create a Radio Voice Bank, like YouTube, but for radio”
Kristine Pearson demonstrating how to use the Lifeplayer

IOL - Meet the woman who is using radio for upliftment in extreme rural areas of Africa

Her next plan is to put together – Radio Voice Bank – a bank of audio material gathered from the content that has already been created, including that from Africa’s huge number of community radio stations using vernacular languages.
AWIEF awards

Africanews - Africa women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) Awards celebrate women entrepreneurs in Africa

We are happy to celebrate with our trailblazers and congratulate them for their achievements…Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Kristine Pearson, Lifeline Energy (South Africa)

borgen magazine article

Borgen Magazine - Lifeline Energy: Solar Radios, Shining Rays of Hope

Inspired and motivated to empower vulnerable people with knowledge, this project is enabling an isolated population of more than 20 million to stay connected and informed.

Financial Times - The power of listening

Like in other African countries, gathering together to listen to stories is an essential part of the oral tradition in Zambia. It is how people learn what’s happening in their community, and how many children learn at school.

World Economic Forum - Social entrepreneurs can change the world, but these 6 things are holding us back

Social entrepreneurs around the world have been unparalleled catalysts for social change. They use market-driven strategies to tackle critical social issues in brand new ways.

TECH Magazine | Movers & Makers - Kristine Pearson, Founder and CEO of Lifeline Energy

Lifeline Energy’s solar-powered wind-up radios are simple and practical products that address some pretty complex social problems.

Forbes - Kristine Pearson on the Founding and Future of Lifeline Energy

Recently, I interviewed Kristine Pearson, founder and CEO of Lifeline Energy, which improves the quality of life of vulnerable populations by providing renewable energy alternatives to those most in need.

CNBC – Lifeplayer, CEO Kristine Pearson at the 2017 World Economic Forum on Africa

Kristine Pearson, founding Chief Executive of Lifeline Energy talks about the changing face of WEF Africa and how to transform Africa through inclusive growth.

Fast Company - Lifeplayer, the MP3 radio for the world's most forgotten

Kristine Pearson has been producing affordable, eco-friendly, and appropriate technologies in Africa for over a decade.

HuffPost - Renewable Energy: The Oxygen of Africa’s Growth and Development

Historically, people associate the sound of Africa with the roar of the lion; but in reality, it’s the roar of the diesel generator. Herds of these archaic beasts are on the prowl…

BBC - Wind-up lights for African homes

The technology behind the wind-up radio could soon be helping to light up some of the poorest homes in Africa.

The Freeplay Foundation is developing prototypes of a charging station for house lights it hopes will improve the quality of life for many Africans.

TIME Magazine names Kristine Pearson an Eco-Hero

Millions of Africans live without electricity, forced to make do instead with kerosene and firewood — sources of energy that wreak havoc on the environment.

HuffPost - What About Including Women in Africa’s Transformation?

I left the closing plenary of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Addis Ababa last Friday with a profound sense of optimism. Josette Sheeran, the Forum’s new vice-chairman, moderated a wonderfully inspirational panel with African Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers.

HuffPost - Educating South Sudanese Students with MP3s

Having recently emerged from nearly four decades of conflict in which two 2 million people were killed and four million displaced, everything in South Sudan needs to be built or rebuilt. As the world’s newest country, it also has the world’s lowest education indicators.

HuffPost - Go-go China

For some time now I’ve been on a quest to better comprehend the many layers of the China-Africa relationship. I’m confident that my understanding of China and the Chinese will deepen at this weeks’ World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions or ‘Summer Davos,’ as it is widely known.

NBC News - Transistor radios play on

Happy 50th birthday to the transistor radio.  For the last half-century we’ve embraced transistor radios, loved them, made them part of our lives and even took them for granted.  But back in 1954, the Regency TR-1 portable radio was very special.

HuffPost - Whirlwinds of Change

When the London cabbie driving me to Paddington on Sunday asked where I was going and I replied that I was headed to Ethiopia, he said ‘What’s it like there now, is everyone still starving?’ Perceptions, it seems, aren’t easy to erase.