REEEP

Women's group is solar entrepreneur

Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India, 11.06.2010 - REEEP International Secretariat

In a tangible example of how REEEP project funding helps to make a difference to poor households at the micro-level, a women’s self-help group (SHG) in the Chittur district of India’s Andhra Pradesh is becoming a solar entrepreneur, providing solar-powered lighting points for street vendors. The project has been implemented working with SELCO India, a REEEP partner organisation with the mission of providing sustainable energy services to underserved communities through a combination of doorstep service and financing.

The Shree Ganga Bhavani women’s self-help group actually got started in 2009, with the general goal of helping women in the area to develop income-earning activities and to save for their families.  The group has provided a credit facility for low-interest loans to its 15 women members to help them in setting up micro-enterprises and handloom work. The SHG gets finance from nationalised banks in India through a linkage programme that assists such groups.

Several of its members came to know about the solar lighting systems sold by SELCO in Karnataka, and enquired for more information.  Over several weeks they worked with the SELCO branch staff to understand the opportunities for the SHG to generate income and to provide better energy service locally.  In the end the SHG established a micro-solar enterprise with 30 lights (15 each in 2 batches) with financing support from the local Indian bank branch.

The bank was initially hesitant to finance the entity as they were unconvinced of the potential benefits of the business.  Field visits and demonstration units for local street vendor spots over several weeks, as well as SELCO senior staff visits, convinced the bank of its merit. The first bank loan covered 15 lights, and based on the encouraging response, a further loan for another 15 solar light units was also given.

The support from REEEP helped facilitate the transaction costs of setting up the solar enterprise, which would normally be too much to bear for a small business venturing into a new area.  With a willing financier, this small enterprise could well expand to provide up to 200 light points in next few months, offering a way for street vendors to replace their smoky kerosene lamps with clean solar-powered lights at an affordable daily fee.   This is the first SELCO project to assist a women’s SHG in taking up the role of solar energy entrepreneur.