He was only 15 years old when he built the first wind turbine to supply electricity to his home in Malawi. His name is William Kamkwamba and he was born in Wimbe, Dowa district, on August 5, 1987 from a relatively poor family whose livelihood was solely based on farming. As a child, he loved to play with his friends, Gilbert and Geoffrey, with whom he had fun seeking and using recycled materials to build and repair objects. Soon, William started repairing radios for money for the locals, but with little success.

According to his autobiography, titled "The boy who harnessed the wind," the famine that struck Malawi in 2002, generated by periods of severe drought and flooding caused by deforestation, forced William to drop out of school, as his family couldn't afford the fees. In an effort to keep up his education, William began secretly visiting the village library. His father, who meanwhile became a fighter in rebellion against the government of the time, that was leaving people in hunger, at first severely hindered his son in his passion and forced him to work in the fields to help the family.

William, after reading in the library the book "Using Energy", decided to create a wind turbine with recycled objects, to demonstrate that it was possible to produce energy exploiting the wind. At first, he created a small prototype using some items he found and a small recycled dynamo.