More energy, by word of mouth

MADHUMATHI D.S.
Solarpowerhomeof a migrantworker

Harish Hande says he does not advertise his solar energy products. His company does not have a marketing department. The word just gets around about his company's solar lanterns, panels, water heaters or cookers'. Which is how they are readily bought and used by more than 1.2 lakh rural poor households in foresty Malnad and north Karnataka. Those who go out to buy them are mostly farm labour, semi- and unskilled workers, agarbathi rollers, basket weavers and migrants. They did it on monthly salaries of around Rs 1,500 and on easy bank loans. Dr Hande, US-educated IITian who won last year's Magsaysay award for his 17-year-old social enterprise, Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO),

emphatically says, We normally do not 'sell' our products - in the classical sense. Ninety per cent of the people who install our systems buy them because of word of mouth. We would not like to sell if we think it does not make sense for the end-user. The PDS kerosene they used did not cost much then but SELCO convinced them about the quality of life that light would bring: We told them, If you have four more hours of light, you could make another basket and earn extra to pay back the loan', says Prasanta Biswal, SELCO's Senior Manager (Mission). Finance options and EMIs were customised. To sell its reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy services in non-urban settings, SELCO, he says, does not have a conventional marketing budget. Sales are always driven by word of mouth and through partners such as banks that finance the buyer and service providers or associates' - postman, teacher, and headman. At one stage they used wall paintings and rural buses to get the message across. One would not see billboards or paper advertisements of SELCO. One would see some wall paintings in rural areas. We do participate in rural fairs and customer meets. Our marketing budget is less than 0.1 per cent (of the turnover). The products cost between Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000 and it takes 30-45 days to close a transaction. We really do not want to dip into the nonexpendable part of the end-user's income. We really want to cater to the need and not the want. At around 15,000 households a year, with a turnover poised for Rs 16 crore next year, the SELCO story goes far beyond the 8-10 per cent growth rate in the last three years. Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja talk about the improvised market approach in their piece for Harvard Business Review: While the Indian government is still deliberating on how to effectively deliver electricity to the 600 million Indians who live off the grid, Harish has already sold more than 100,000 modular solar lighting systems in the remotest regions of India. His firm SELCO employs an innovative business model that relies on a cost-effective grassroots distribution network to deliver affordable electricity on a pay-as you-go basis to

underserved Indian shops, households, and schools to power their everyday socio-economic activity. SELCO's frugal just-in-time energy distribution system as opposed to the always-on but wasteful electricity grid brings more value to more Indians at less cost, and it is both environmentally and economically sustainable. SELCO's business model is an outcome of the jugaad mindset. Keywords: Solar lanterns, solar panels, solar water heaters, rural poor households, word of mouth
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Pathbreakers: Harish Hande, MD of Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO)

Moinak Mitra, ET Bureau Mar 2, 2012, 12.12AM IST Solar Electric Light Company

(Pathbreakers: Harish Hande, MD of Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO))

Unable to ignore the poorest of the poor who live in abject darkness, Harish Hande decided to put his Master's in solar power to good use. Today, the 44-year-old MD of Solar Electric Light Company or SELCO, retains the same inclusive elan while reminiscing how his company continues to light up lives at the bottom of the pyramid. The lure of social enterprise After a trip to the Dominican Republic in 1991 while doing his Master's in the US, Harish Hande realised he wanted to do something in the socioeconomic space. His professor at the University of Massachusetts told him to study rural electrification in the Dominican Republic, where he came across households using solar power paying small amounts of money. In 1993, upon returning to India and doing field work in Karnataka and Sri Lanka, Hande realised that affordability could be defined in many ways beyond Excel sheets. He registered SELCO in 1995. The brainwave Hande still feels that despite the fact that there are 40,000 banks in India, people don't take advantage of them. He wanted to create good after sales and access to third-party financing to make solar power affordable. A 4-light solar system in 1994 cost Rs 15,000 and the only way to make it affordable was if banks financed it. Optional career When Hande headed back to the US, he wanted to do research in large solar (projects). But he switched to small solar after his Dominican Republic experience. A group of friends, including SELCO cofounder Neville Williams, also helped him change his mind. A 1993 meeting with Williams, a former

journalist and an anti-Vietnam War activist in Washington, deeply influenced Hande. Working the equilibrium Hande's credo is to maintain equilibrium among stakeholders. For him, the all-time classic social entrepreneur is the street vendor - "she never cheats and carries on sustainable delivery...But Kingfisher, despite possessing the best brains, is in a spot. SELCO started the same year as Lehmann Brothers. We are here, they are not." He says we need to look at the poor as clients, not beneficiaries. Ulterior motive All for intervention, which either increases income or the quality of life, or both. Hande is yet to see a VC who puts money in companies started by non-English speaking entrepreneurs because of the 'Excel sheet mindset'. "VCs are looking at entrepreneurs who know to make Excel financials and Powerpoint presentations. Thousands are left out of the ecosystem". Biggest crisis In 2005, Hande had a set of early investors whose investments changed hands. The new set of investors didn't have the same commitment. To get that lot out, he faced 18 harrowing months as they held 90% of the organisation. They got embroiled in a case and gave Hande back the shares. That event made him chase only ethical investors. Run the numbers Today, the Rs 16 crore SELCO has a profit of Rs 80 lakh with projected revenues of about Rs 24 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 30 crore in 2015. So far, Hande has pumped in $3.2 million into the company. Personal career goals Replicating the SELCO model across India and creating six labs by 2016-17 as centers of innovation for the poor. Toughest call to date Firing a dedicated employee over a trivial issue. Moment of pride An employee who came to clean the table and serve coffee in 1998 is today SELCO's Bangalore office branch manager, talking to bank chairmen and providing solar solutions. Job in a line "Fun and addictive." Soul-searching poser "Boundaries are man-made. Why are we so possessive on those lines?" Lesson for the corporate world Equity. Processes are important but there are also individuals who are working. Don't equate people with commodities.

Harish Hande
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur, who founded Selco India, a solar electric light company in 1995, which over the years has lit up over 120,000 households, to emerge as India's leading solar technology firm. [1]

]Early

life and education

He was born in Handattu Kundapura Taluk, Udupi District, Karnataka and raised in Rourkela, Orissa, India. After completing his basic schooling in Orissa in Ispat English Medium School, he went to IIT Kharagpur for his undergraduate studies in Energy Engineering.[2] He then went to the U.S. to do his Masters and later PhD. in Energy Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell[3]

Career
Hande co-founded SELCO INDIA (in 1995), a social enterprise, to eradicate poverty by promoting sustainable technologies in rural India. With its headquarters in Bangalore , SELCO has 25 branches in Karnataka and Gujarat. Today SELCO INDIA has installed solar lighting systems in over 120,000 households in the rural areas of these states. Hande has won the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy 2005 and Tech Museum Award 2005. Hande has also received the worlds leading green energy award from Prince Charles in 2005. In 2007 SELCO INDIA won the Outstanding Achievement Award from Ashden Awards. The award was presented by Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States of America. Hande was named theSocial Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation. He was also the featured attendee and speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative 2007. In 2008, Hande was chosen by Business Today as one of the 21 young leaders for Indias 21st century. In mid 2008, India Today named him one of the 50 pioneers of change in India. He was awarded with Asia's prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2011, also sometimes referred to as Asia's Nobel Prize, for his pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor, through his social enterprise SELCO India. [4]