• CERAWEEK 2025 | March 10-14, 2025
  • CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Ademola (Demmy) Adesina

Rensource Distributed Energy Limited

Founder & Chief Executive Officer


Ademola Adesina is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rensource, a leading provider of energy and payment services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa. Rensource was the 2019 winner of the Financial Times/IFC Transformational Business Award for Climate and Urban Infrastructure Solutions. Working with entrepreneurial management teams in challenging operating environments, Mr. Adesina has focused on building or turning around early- and growth-stage enterprises for much of his career. Beginning in 2007 with Agrica, an East African agricultural concern, and subsequently with Automatiks, a California-based integrator of hybrid power solutions; AST, a leading provider of Power-as-a-Service in India; and Pagatech, a Nigerian mobile payments company, Mr. Adesina was Entrepreneur in Residence for Capricorn Investment Group, the Palo Alto–based investment arm of Jeff Skoll. He previously led business development and corporate strategy for Aquifer, a London-based investment company affiliated with the family office of Lord Sainsbury and the Gatsby Trust. In this capacity, he undertook activities that represented strategic support for developing, strengthening, and growing Aquifer’s businesses. Mr. Adesina joined Aquifer from the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where he was a founding member of the Innovation for Development & Impact Investing initiatives. He has lived and worked in Africa, the United States, and Europe.


Sessions With Ademola (Demmy) Adesina

Tuesday, 10 March

  • 03:30pm - 04:20pm (CST) / -

    African Energy Innovation: Gaining momentum
    Geopolitics/Policy/Regulatory Digitalization Innovation & Technology

    The African continent has seen the transformative power of technological innovations, such as mobile money services, so that today the region is the global leader in their adoption and use. Africa is on the cusp of applying technology and innovation to energy sector issues, from electricity access to energy infrastructure. Considering the unique history, culture, and languages across Africa, can startups make an impact on the region’s long-term energy dynamics? Can African startups be relevant globally?