Meet the woman who lit up Yemen's towns one solar panel at a time

Trailblazing entrepreneur Iman Hadi Al Hamali supplies safe, cheap and environmentally friendly power to dozens of homes

Yemeni entrepreneur Iman Hadi Al Hamali leads a team of 10 women at a solar panel power plant in Abs, Hajjah. Photo: UNDP

In a four-part series, The National reflects on a decade of war in Yemen, uncovering 10 years of conflict that has torn apart families, lives and livelihoods. The first, second and third parts can be found here, here and here

The risk of getting shot by her brother did not stop Iman Hadi Al Hamali, 38, from becoming a trailblazing entrepreneur. In 2019, she established a solar power plant in her hometown of Abs, near Yemen's capital Sanaa.

Seeing how low-income families were struggling without electricity in her community fuelled Iman into developing a solution that now supplies safe, cheap and environmentally friendly power to dozens of Yemeni homes.

Her story is not an ordinary one in a country ravaged by a decade of war and where social restrictions are deep-rooted.

Abs, in Yemen's northwestern governorate of Hajjah, had been left largely without electricity due to the destruction of power grids during the continuing war that began in 2014, when Houthi rebels stormed the capital in September of that year.

Seeing how the sweltering summer heat impacted the elderly, how dark rooms impeded students' ability to study, and how much electricity generator traders were exploiting people, Iman decided to make a change.

With a college degree in administrative information systems, she represents less than 10 per cent of Yemeni women who have completed higher education. After enrolling in the UN Development Fund's Supporting Resilient Livelihoods initiative to create sustainable incomes in vulnerable societies, Iman knew what she needed to do.

“This exposed me to very skilled engineers and consultants who helped me figure out how to utilise the skills I learnt not only for personal use but to solve some of my community's problems,” Iman told The National.

Iman designed a solar station that would reduce costs by 65 per cent, allowing even the poorest homes to benefit from uninterrupted light through a clean and renewable energy source.

Before building could begin, Iman had to convince her family and the society around her that women are capable of doing more than working in the confines of their homes.

“In the beginning, my family refused – to the extent that one of my brothers disowned me and wanted to shoot me dead,” she said.

But Iman, whose name means faith in Arabic, remained determined. She sought the support of the head of her 13-member family and teamed up with local women who shared her vision and ambition.

“I told my father that the women with me will not betray their families' trust in them, and that we want to work while remaining committed to our Islamic values and traditions of society,” Iman said.

However, the situation was not that simple and involved more than a single conversation. It required months of persistence. “I spoke to him a lot until I gained his trust,” she explained.

Despite now gaining her father's approval to begin working on the first private solar micro-grid station in Iman's community, many people remained unconvinced. “Sheikhs and imams of mosques approached my father and brothers telling them that I would embarrass them with my project and that women are only meant to do housework,” she said.

In addition to her education, Iman received training from the UNDP in business management, operations and battery maintenance to enable her to run her business independently.

“Now, I manage a solar energy project to generate alternative electricity. It's environmentally friendly and does not produce noise or pollution,” Iman said.

The plant powers at least 40 low-income households in several communities. Iman has also empowered other women and helped change public perception towards them, causing a community that once planned on stopping her, to support her instead.

“The community sees me and my partners with respect. Their views changed from mockery and ridicule to respect and appreciation,” Iman said.

Today, Iman has become an icon in sustainability, and has even taken part in the COP 27 and COP 28 climate change conferences in Egypt and the UAE.

She hopes to one day reach thousands more households and launch easy-to-pay loans for people to start small businesses in their local communities.

“I want to help people understand that women represent half of society and can be part of that in every sense of the word,” Iman said.