Solar Technology Meets Avon: The Story of Solar Sister

Next Billion recently interviewed Katherine Lucey, the founder of Solar Sister, to discuss her motivations for leaving the investment banking industry and entering social enterprise.  Lucey explains:

“I used to work as an investment banker, raising billions of dollars to build power plants—I realized that large-scale power could not reach the poor, since the investment and infrastructure costs would be too great. I wanted a simpler solution to the energy problem.

95% of people have no access to electricity in rural Uganda. Currently, the women in these villages spend about 30-40% of their income on kerosene for their lamps-it is a priority purchase in the household.  These lamps emit smoke, cause burns, are fire hazards, and need to be refilled constantly.

Solar electrical installations transform the life of a village. They are safe and efficient. Children can study at night and villagers can gather together. It frees up the portion of a household’s income that would have been used on kerosene to use on other things, like nutrition and studies.”

Solar Sister is one of many initiatives, such as Lighting Africa, that seek to bring electricity to the developing world.  However, unlike many other organizations, Solar Sister uses an “Avon-based” direct sales model, where individual entrepreneurs sell solar powered lanterns to members of their community and then share in the profits.  These solar lanterns provide a safer alternative to the kerosene lanterns that are still widely used in developing areas.

Lucey argues that this Avon-based model has a number of advantages; not only is Solar Sister able to provide jobs to women in these developing communities, it is also able to reach markets that have little infrastructure by relying on the natural circle of contacts and relationships that Solar Sister’s entrepreneurs possess.

Currently, Solar Sister works with only a handful of entrepreneurs, but the organization is still growing and the Avon-based model it employs has already garnered support.  Research from Linda Scott, a professor at the University of Oxford’s Saïd School of Business, suggests that the Avon model could prove even more accessible than microfinance.

Visit the Solar Sister site to find out more about their work