Ademola Fagode is starting to tally up the number of times he’s been asked why he stays in Detroit.
He could be in his native Nigeria, where he said he grew up his “own version of Greta Thurnberg” in the globe’s fifth-largest oil producer, preaching about climate change and global warming. Or he could be in Houston, which contains the highest population of Nigerian immigrants in the United States and where Fagode has family.
Instead, Fagode has set up shop here, having lived in Detroit since 2013. “I’ve tried to leave Michigan twice, but it keeps bringing me back – in a positive way,” he says.
For the short term, Fagode can’t leave Detroit. He was appointed a four-year term to the city’s Board of Water Commissioners – an appointment which requires residency in the city limits. He’ll balance that with his day-to-day duties as CEO of Geoprime Energy, a renewable energy solutions firm founded in 2023 with the goal of making older, larger energy sources like piston engines and steam turbines more efficient, as well as increasing equity of energy use across underserved communities.
One would not immediately think that a region like Detroit, which is primarily served by an energy utility with Detroit literally in its name, fits the definition of being underserved. Most of DTE Energy’s power comes from older infrastructure, however, and much of Fagode’s work involves converting these systems into “clean” energy sources, where Detroit lags compared to other cities.
“We’re focused on advanced technology and applications in the energy space – I’m talking hydrogen fuel cells, micronuclear reactors, which we have in [research and development], but also class one renewables when it applies,” Fagode says. “Whatever engines we use are multi-fuel and modular. We could start with natural gas, but that same engine would eventually be able to utilize ammonia or hydrogen. So, all our infrastructure is, I’ll say, future-proof.”
The “underserved” and “equity” portions of Fagode’s mission become more clear once the technical jargon – he does hold multiple degrees in engineering – relaxes and the conversation moves more into what anyone who’s ever, say, driven south on I-75 from the city into Downriver can understand right away. This region is highly populated with people of color either breathing fumes from power plants now, paying more for energy soon, or at risk of experiencing scarcity with other energy sources later.
“When it comes to basic humanities – utilities, water, power, food as well – those things should not be compromised,” Fagode says. “When I think about what the future looks like in the next 50 years – what my children and their children should enjoy – we get to do all the work right now. We get to leapfrog current technology and sort of disconnect from all of the bureaucracies so that we’re making our lives easier and more equitable in general.
“Energy is life,” Fagode adds. “Energy means equity, energy transcends across all needs of life, and it forms economy, right? Energy equity is something that I believe isn’t talked about well enough and should be reinforced, should be made a thing of passion, and hopefully a thing of joy when we finally figure out that we already have everything we need on this planet. We have to be responsible, and we have to respect it; respect what we’re given, and don’t damage the planet.”
Fagode set out to work for DTE Energy after completing his education at Wayne State University and spent many years employed with the utility, which he counted as his first client after he set out on his own with Geoprime.
“I got the opportunity to see all the positives and all the roadblocks and bottlenecks that they have to deal with, from critical departments like process control and technology to procurements and distribution operations,” he said. “That really gave me insight and purpose to develop on my own.”
To be clear: Geoprime Energy and similar firms supplement and do not replace utility providers. A customer simply cannot switch from DTE to Geoprime with proof of residency and the last four digits of an SSN.
But Geoprime and like-minded firms have another mission, which is expanding opportunities for Black engineers to move into the energy space. Fagode says he does not see enough of this in practice.
“As a young engineer at DTE, I always wanted to just have a whole bunch of mentors,” Fagode says. “I was so hungry for knowledge, for access. We need more opportunities for people that look like me to be informed, and have the opportunity to be motivated, to be inspired, to get in this space.
“Every state has their economic development goals, but I’m not seeing enough effort by actual industries to make change,” he says. “We created a workforce development of which when we go into underserved communities to develop our infrastructure, no matter how small or large, we get to empower the youth of the community by training them and certifying them, and possibly hiring them to be a part of the project as we move forward.”
“These are not just unpaid internships. We will train you, pay you and certify you,” Fagode says.
Geoprime’s efforts have not only been supported by DTE, but by Detroit At Work, one of the City of Detroit’s employment programs, and by Michigan Central.
“I owe a lot to Detroit. It helped form my identity. I have family here. I fell in love here. This is a place that no matter where I go. I can never forget,” Fagode says.
“I had prospects in Texas, North Carolina, even Indiana, but there is nothing like home, and I have the most leverage where I started, right? I don’t know what the future might hold, but for now, I’m still betting on Detroit, and our projects here.”