S. Africa Trip Could Spark Energy Plans

Allen Herbert, the San Pedro man with a plan to electrify underdeveloped African countries, will be part of the U.S. delegation to visit South Africa this week.

Herbert is one of 25 business leaders who were invited to join U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown and other government officials in this country’s first trade mission to South Africa since President Clinton called for lifting sanctions against South Africa in September. The delegation will leave Friday and return Dec. 1.

“This is a great opportunity to show the U.S. government how it can be influential in helping to provide assistance in bringing electricity and energy programs to parts of South Africa,” said Herbert, 32, president of the African Electrification Foundation.

Herbert and his partner, John Butler of South-Central, started the African Electrification Foundation in 1990 with a plan to bring electricity to several of Africa’s underdeveloped nations.

Herbert has visited various African countries, but this will be his first official U.S. government trip. He and Butler are working with the Department of Energy to develop programs to teach black Africans about ways to tap into their countries’ energy sources.

Herbert hopes to bring back information on African energy management to American companies as well as use South Africa as a springboard to develop energy sources in other African countries.