Hannah Olmberg-Soesman of Suriname was recently declared the 2017 CARICOM Energy Personality of the Year. Ms. Olmberg-Soesman won the award for her work introducing off-grid solar systems to remote rural communities in Suriname:

A dynamic entrepreneur with a background in social work and a degree in law, Hannah Olmberg-Soesman has managed to bring together the different strands of her professional life and plait them together into new opportunities for communities living in the hinterland in her native Suriname. Focusing also on women’s empowerment, she and her company team have been instrumental in introducing off-grid solar systems to remote villages. This has opened up possibilities for better school education, medical care and small scale business to augment these families’ income, while at the same time proving that, once the initial outlay paid for, clean energy proves to be a determining factor of local development.

Find out more about her work and about the CARICOM Energy Personality Awards at Barbados Today and CARICOM Today.

The other nominees for the 2017 CARICOM Energy Personality of the Year Award were Jonathan Barcant (Trinidad and Tobago); Dr. Indra Haraksingh (Trinidad and Tobago); Joshua Hunte (Barbados); Angella Rainford (Jamaica); Ruth Spencer (Antigua and Barbuda); and Adrian Thomas (Trinidad and Tobago).

[Image: via CARICOM Today]