What will make one leave a well-paid job in the United Kingdom to start a solar panel installation venture in Ghana?

For Nazir Ali who has lived in Europe for 20 years, a successful life goes beyond an individual’s achievements.

Helping Ghana grow its power supply needs is one of the legacies he wants to be remembered for.

JoyNews Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen engaged Nazir during one of his installation exercises at Old Tafo in the Ashanti Region.

“I have lived in Germany for over 9 years where I did electrical engineering. I also worked in different sectors within the German setup,” he said. 

Nazir Ali is a German-trained electrical engineer. But as the saying goes, you never know what you have until you abandon it. So Nazir did.

“I abandoned it because I thought it was a dirty job,” he said. 

In 2010, Nazir left Germany for London to study Radiotherapy and Oncology at City University London.

He was then employed at Poole Hospital NHS Trust in Dorset and Singleton Hospital in Swansea Wales, where he treated cancer patients. 

For 6 years, Nazir worked as a radiotherapist. He treated cancer patients from brain to head and neck including lung, chest, and stomach cancers for 11 years.

But while visiting Ghana, Nazir rethought the greatest challenge facing Ghana is power supply and so he had to return to his engineering profession. 

Nazir returned to Ghana in 2020 to start his solar installation business with just £10,000.

“I realized power is basically what we need. Nothing moves around the world without power.”

Though he is yet to make profit, Nazir believes things will improve over time. Averagely he gets between 7 and 8 requests but due to the initial cost involved, 2 to 3 honour.  

We asked why he left his lucrative job in the UK to install solar panels in Ghana.

He said, “when you go outside and learn something, you need to come back and make it useful to the Ghanaian community.” Nazir is looking forward to training the Ghanaian youth to be self-employed.

But Nazir says he is still in love with his Radiotherapy profession.