MWANZA, March 6, 2025 – Engineer Diana Mbogo, the Managing Director of Millennium Engineering Enterprises Limited in Tanzania, combined her passion for technology with a burning desire to challenge the status quo and make a difference.
Women unloading sardines from fishing boats. Photo: World Bank
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The Government of Tanzania is leading a campaign to increase access to electricity across the country, with support from the World Bank through the Tanzania Rural Electrification Expansion Program (TREEP).
- A woman engineer took advantage of TREEP to build a successful business providing fishing communities around Lake Victoria with low-cost, environmentally friendly tools to improve sardine harvest and processing.
- Her innovative solutions have allowed local fishermen to cut costs by 40% and improved the working conditions of the women in charge of drying the sardines.
When I graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam in 2016, I was deliberate about finding an industry where I could have an impact with my technical skills. The fishing industry, though male-dominated, caught my attention because of the hardships faced by the women. I was especially intrigued by the sardine sector where I immediately saw the need for simple innovations tailored to women’s specific needs—especially since many of them have limited education.
Through their research on the sardine sector in Mwanza, a fishing community on the banks of Lake Victoria, Diana and her team had identified a major problem: unsanitary open-air drying methods that took too much time, yielded little to no profit, and failed to meet international market standards. In 2017, the team began exploring ways to improve the sector, particularly in Kayenze, in Ilemela District, which is renowned for its abundant and diverse fish stocks, especially sardines.
Ndogo ward, where Kayenze is located, is a busy fishing hub, but traditional methods—such as fishing with kerosene lamps and drying sardines on the bare ground—compromised hygiene, efficiency, and the quality of the product.
“Women, who are the main group engaged in the sardine business, faced significant challenges,” Diana said. “They depended entirely on the sun, drying sardines on the ground or netted tables. This made them vulnerable to losses, especially during rainy weather when sunlight was scarce. The fishermen also relied on kerosene lamps for lighting during fishing at night and the cost of fuel for these lamps was high. It also posed safety risks for them.”
To address these challenges, Millennium Engineers developed modern tools: solar-powered lamps and greenhouse drying facilities. In this solution, the sardines are carefully arranged on drying racks inside the controlled environment. The solar-powered structure, made of a transparent arched roof, allows sunlight to penetrate while protecting the fish from contaminants and adverse weather conditions. Large fans installed inside ensure proper air circulation, aiding the drying process. This method enhances hygiene, reduces post-harvest losses, and improves the quality of dried sardines, making them more marketable and sustainable compared to traditional open-air drying.
“We reduced drying times from 12 hours to five,” Diana shared. “In addition, our facilities have the capacity to dry over 1.2 tons of sardines in a single day. As a result, the women in this community have more time to invest in other economic activities, earn higher incomes, and fetch premium prices for their produce as it is more hygienic.”
The innovative solar-powered fishing lamp (manufactured in China) helps fishermen during night fishing and is rented to them by Diana's company. It is mounted on a lightweight wire stand, features a bright yellow casing with a built-in handle for easy transportation, and operates using solar energy. Makeshift floating platforms constructed from recycled plastic bottles and PVC pipes help keep it positioned on the water's surface. These lamps attract fish by mimicking natural light and are an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative to the more expensive and environmentally harmful kerosene lamps.
“Our lamps were developed through a sustainability lens, and they not only enhance fishing efficiency but also contribute to reducing carbon emissions and protecting aquatic ecosystems,” said Diana.
Diana’s project, initiated in 2021 with minimal personal funding, gained momentum in 2022 when the Rural Energy Agency (REA) stepped in with a subsidy under the World Bank supported Tanzania Rural Electrification Expansion Project (TREEP). TREEP is an initiative financed by the International Development Association (IDA) and aims to expand access to reliable and affordable electricity services across Tanzania, increase the share of renewable energy sources in the country’s energy mix, and enhance energy security and resilience while improving the financial sustainability of the energy sector. Receiving a grant helped Diana expand the drying facilities and the distribution of lamps, allowing her to respond to the high demand within the community and ensure that the services she offered remained affordable.
“Our solar lamps are 40% cheaper than other products on the market and this means that the services are easily affordable for the ordinary customer,” Diana said. “The drying facilities are also competitively priced due to our emphasis on supporting the community to transition to sustainable practices without financial strain.”
The impact of these innovations extends beyond economic benefits. As an environmental bonus, for instance, the shift to solar-powered lamps has reduced the use of kerosene and acid batteries. “We have removed over 6,000 acid batteries from the lake, which has helped reduce the pollution,” Diana explains. The new method has also cut the typical fisherman’s annual expenditures by 40%, since the fishermen rent solar lamps for Tsh 1,500 per night, whereas operating kerosene lamps previously required two liters per night—with current kerosene prices ranging from Tsh 2,943 to 3,016 per liter.
Diana recalls the challenges of introducing new technologies to a deeply traditional industry. “We had to understand the cultural norms and engage closely with the community. “The women, who handle the processing of sardines, were experiencing up to 70% post-harvest losses during the rainy seasons. We consulted with them to be able to design a solution that they could easily understand and appreciate.”
The greenhouse drying system has been transformative, benefiting over 3,000 people through improved livelihoods and market access. Thanks to Diana Mbogo’s innovations, fishermen in Kayenze now produce high-quality dried sardines that meet international standards and deliver better profits and opportunities. Millennium Engineering has created employment opportunities by directly hiring 30 people and aims to scale up its operations to benefit 25,000 people in fishing communities around Lake Victoria.
Diana says, “Our goal is to expand our reach across the entire fishing value chain to unlock the lake’s enormous, untapped potential. We want to bridge the gap between the islands and the mainland, increase productivity, and help these communities access global markets.”
She added, “I wanted to disrupt the status quo and bring innovation to an industry that needed it most. Seeing the positive impact, especially on the women in this community, has been incredibly rewarding.”
It is worth noting that her success through TREEP is not isolated: to date, TREEP has connected nearly 8 million people, 1,600 healthcare facilities, 6,500 educational institutions, and 16,000 businesses across Tanzania to the power grid. These results led to the launch of ASCENT TZ, a $300 million program, also financed by IDA, whose objective is to accelerate access to sustainable and clean energy solutions across the country.
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