ASSIGNMENT

ON
SUBMITTED TO :
SUBMITTED BY :
DR. SANJAY MEDHAVI AYUSH BISHT
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT MBA SEM 4TH
LUCKNOW UNIVERSITY ROLL NO. 180012135043

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks

of gratitude to my professor Dr. Sanjay
 Medhavi who gave me the Golden
opportunity to this wonderful project on
the topic “Case Study On A Social
Enterprise” , which also helped me in
doing a lot of research and I came to
know about so many new things I am
really thankful to them.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my
parents and friends which helped me a lot
in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.
AYUSH BISHT
MBA 4TH SEM
(FINANCE)
ROLL NO . 08
CASE STUDY

“SELCO: Providing Sustainable

Energy to the Bottom of the
Pyramid Consumers”
In July 2011, Harish Hande (Hande), a social
entrepreneur and the co-founder of the Solar Electric
Light Company (SELCO), a Bangalore-based for-
profit social enterprise, was awarded the Ramon
Magsaysay Award. The award was in recognition for
his efforts to make solar power technology
accessible to the underserved Bottom of the Pyramid
(BoP) consumers through a social enterprise that
offered affordable, customizable, and sustainable
electricity.

Since the launch of SELCO in 1995, Hande had

been involved in dealing with one of the most
pressing problems in developing countries
worldwide — unreliable access to electricity. Over
400 million people in India lacked access to
electricity, according to the World Bank. Where
there was no access to the national grid, rural
consumers often relied on other fuel sources such as
coal, kerosene, wood, and biomass for cooking,
studying, and doing other daily chores. Not only
were these sources of fuel expensive, but they were
also harmful. The smokes and fumes emitted by
open cooking fires killed nearly 1.6 million people,
especially women and children in India. In addition
to health and environmental concerns, women and
children, on whom the burden of obtaining fuel for
the family fell, spent a significant amount of time
gathering wood, etc. – time that could be spent in
school or in doing other economic activity.
A ray of hope for such BoP consumers in India
appeared in 1991 when Hande chanced upon a
village on a field trip to the Dominican Republic
while pursuing his doctoral degree from the
University of Massachusetts, where the BoP
consumers paid for solar electricity. Subsequently,
he met an American engineer and social
entrepreneur, Richard Hansen, who sold solar
photovoltaic systems to poor Dominicans. Hande
was impressed by the success of Hansen’s solar
photovoltaic model for the poor. He felt that the
business model would be applicable to India too. He
also drew inspiration from another renewable energy
champion, Neville Williams, at the University of
Massachusetts and together they founded Solar
Electric Light Company (SELCO) in 1995.

SELCO offered solar Photovolatic systems to the

BoP that was customized according to the needs of
the rural consumers. In addition, the company
entered into partnerships with several banks and
micro-finance organizations that provided innovative
financing schemes based on the cash flows of the
BoP consumers.

By mid-2012, SELCO had empowered over 135,000

rural households in India. Going forward, the
company aimed to nurture entrepreneurs to replicate
its successful business model across the country and
thereby serve the BoP segment.

Though SELCO was a for-profit social venture,

poverty reduction remained central to its goal.
Hence, Hande felt that scaling up would shift the
company’s focus away from its social mission. The
only way he wanted to scale up was by finding the
right person to replicate its business model in each
state with their support

REFERENCES

 https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/harish-hande-of-selco-india-
shedding-light-on-indias-underserved-markets/

 https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/special/innovation-energy-selco-
solar-lamps/story/186623.html

 https://designobserver.com/feature/selco-case-study-synopsis--teaching-
objectives/15128