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Al Karaki Print bio

Al Karaki

Al Karaki is the Founder and CEO at 4iAfrica and Global Business Development and Marketing Director at LiGE. He is the Cofounder of Air Battery, CMO for Enerlight, and CMO for World’s First Safe Hydrogen Distribution Device.

Insight, Innovation, Implementation, and Impact in Africa (4iAfrica) are Innovation specialists and large-scale implementers providing governments, corporates, and communities with sustainable development solutions in water, education, health, renewable energies, tourism, ICT, and agriculture sectors in Africa. They have developed solution-driven digital platforms in education, small business development, and marketing. They also launched a virtual hybrid event and b2b networking and communication platform.

Since 2016, Al was a cofounder at Leaper Innovative Green Energies or LiGE, an award-winning South Africa-based engineering company that designed, developed, and patented (in South Africa, Africa, and Europe) an innovative energy-storage system — the LiGE Air Battery. They developed a patented Air Battery, which is able to convert any form of energy – solar, wind, wave, pedal, and grid and stores it as compressed air for up to 30 years and unlike conventional or even lithium batteries, does not contain any toxic chemicals nor does it deteriorate in performance.

Read Ditch Your Deep Cycle Batteries For the LiGE CAES Cleantech Energy Storage System. Read Air Battery — Providing Clean Energy Storage and Clean Water-From-Air

In 2014, Al Founded Aquaponics Africa. This startup has developed a sustainable, profitable, and indoor system which simultaneously grows fish and vegetables faster and with much less water than conventional farming. They are the largest Aquaponics Training Academy in Africa, one of the largest commercial Aquaponics farms in Africa (over 3,000 square meters), and the most established Aquaponics system and Tilapia Rendalli hatcheries in South Africa.

Al has been also Associate for Tourism Consulting and Advisor for the UN World Tourism Organisation since 2004. He has been advising countries on establishing management information and e-business systems for tourism and investment and working with local and regional tourism authorities to increase the value and contribution of tourism in their areas.

Between 2015 and 2019, Al was the Founder and Director of Freedom WiFi, a large-scale provider of FREE Public Wifi and sustainable internet in Africa. Their Wifi software allows them to display 3rd party advertisements, announcements, and graphics on any user’s cellphone, tablet or laptop whilst they are enjoying unlimited wifi at client’s hotspots throughout Africa.

In 2018, Al was the Program Manager at Founder Institute (FI) which is a Silicon Valley company, and is the world’s premier idea-stage accelerator and startup launch program. They have helped create over 3,100+ technology companies in over 6 continents, 200 cities throughout the world, with a network of well over 11,000 startup mentors. FI partners with law firms, co-working spaces, and other local resources to provide the very best program experience. In addition, FI is the only program of its kind that accepts solo-founders and founders with day jobs, and that shares equity with all participants.

For almost 8 years, between 2010 and 2018, Al was the Managing Director at Midrand Forum with his primary objective to provide mutually beneficial networking and marketing opportunities and to become a single unified voice to business, investment, and government.

Between 2004 and 2012, Al was Vice President of Convergence of the .sport domain, Founder and Director at Gr8start Social Media Portal Developer, Manager of the African Division for Kyoto Planet working on Renewable energies, and the Founder of Chameleon World, the developers and providers of Branded Desktop Communicators.

Al earned his degree in Psychology in 1973 from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Canada. In 2003, he began working on his Master’s Degree of Science in Information Technology, but was cut short because of his workload as CIO for the South African Government.

Born in Canada, Al has been in Africa for over 20 years implementing large-scale projects in Education, Renewable Energies, Tourism, and Telecomms. While his clients are mainly government and large corporates, Al is also a serial entrepreneur winning many awards in Africa including:

Before moving to Africa between 1984 and 1986, Al was member of the Labatts Freestyle Ski Team where he was demonstrator, organizer, and advancer of the sport of freestyle snow skiing which is now recognised as an Olympic Sport.

His first important project in Africa was in 1996, when he founded and was the Director at the Open Learning Systems Education Trust, Africa’s largest Educational Technology Project which developed interactive radio as a platform to transfer knowledge to millions of learners — especially those in the rural areas of Africa.

Among other interests, Al is also a part-time actor featured in over 53 local and international television commercials, television serials, and feature length films including with Leon Shuster and Jackie Chan.

Watch How the mind of a true innovator works and Air Battery info for 2021 Davos via TikTok. Watch Aquaponics System in African Schools: Building a Sustainable Solution for School Meals.

Visit his LinkedIn profile and FS6 page. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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