African-American pop star, Akon along with Thione Niang and Samba Bathily have announced a Solar Academy in Bamako, Mali through the Akon Lighting Africa initiative. This announcement was made at the second United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum (SE4A). The initiative, which is supported by Solektra International and other foreign experts, will provide training programs and training equipment to African entrepreneurs, engineers and technicians to further develop their skill.. The program aims to tutor entrants on the installation and maintenance of solar-powered electric systems and micro-grids. We now need to consolidate African expertise and that is our objective,” Samba Bathily said at the SE4A.