Base of the Pyramid Enterprise Innovations in Rural India

SELCO Solar is a social enterprise whose mission is to enhance the quality of life and livelihoods of underserved households through sustainable energy solutions and services with a focus on solar power. SELCO tasked the Capstone team to assess and refine the model for their Integrated Energy Centers (IEC) that are providing clean energy services such as lighting, mobile charging, and charged batteries to the urban and rural poor in Karnataka India. In addition to the core energy products, these standalone solar-powered service centers provide communities with access to health and education services, purified water and vocational training. The IEC is an innovation of SELCO-India, a world-recognized leader in developing and selling energy products targeting the base of the pyramid. 

The team tackled the issue of how to scale-up the IECs to reach more people with clean energy and related social services and to evaluate different delivery models to make the IECs sustainable and financially viable. The team specifically looked at: i) suitable business models to help the IECs flourish, ii) best practices from similar models around the world, and iii) how to create practical excel-based tools to evaluate the financial, social and operational aspects of the IECs. The excel-based tools will help SELCO staff assess the viability of potential IEC’s for future planning, track the financial and operational results, and monitor the many social and environmental development impacts. A key part of the project was a field visit in mid-March to collect primary data and learn first-hand about the SELCO operations and customers.