Harish Hande: Lighting Up India

Harish Hande, an *IIT Kharagpur alumnus* holds a PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and has a reputation for being a pioneer of change in rural India. What is truly incredible is the business model around which he
has built his profitable social venture. Harish’s company Selco, India (Solar Electric Light Company) has made a mockery of critics who believe that the rural population of India does not have the means to buy and
sustain dependable products, based on sound technology that bring a positive change to their normal way of life. True, as with most successful social enterprises, Harish had to bear the initial hardship of creating a strong base amongst the rural folk and marketing his product through door-to-door campaigns. However, with innovative schemes bordering on payment through installments and collaboration with MFI’s and other funding agencies, it was
not long before his solar lighting systems were selling like hot cakes. An annual revenue generation of more than US$ 3 million when one’s clientele’ consists entirely of street vendors and people earning below US$ 4 per day
is indeed startling. One particular success story of his company was equipping rose pickers in Bangalore, who used to pick roses every morning holding an oil lamp in one hand with solar-powered headlamps. What resulted
was a considerable increase of their income due to the doubling of productivity. Dr. Hande was named the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
The Scholars’ Avenue, in an effort to investigate such opportunities available in the field of social entrepreneurship contacted students and alumni, who’ve worked in such enterprises.