The top four challenges facing decentralised solar rural mini-grids

Background

India’s energy starved villages are in dire need of affordable, safe, convenient, and clean energy to meet their growing demand.  Solar energy could help meet this demand through the myriad decentralised off-grid products it offers.  However, most of these products have limited applications (lighting and cooking), and have their own set of challenges to scale.  Solar mini-grids – independent…

The final round table of the series of events, which have been arranged by Renaissance Consultants, funded by CARE Bangladesh, and supported by MDF and GIZ, was held in the last week in Dhaka. The round table was targeted at finding constraints of private sector companies in selling products in the BoP market.

The participants of the round table were discussing about issues related to understanding of the BoP market, when Mohammad Ehsanul Haque, Regional Business Manager of d.light…

Measuring Impact, for Impact 

5.30 – 7pm, 1 May 2013

Standard Chartered

1 Basinghall Avenue, London, EC2V 5DD

Visit the event page.

More and more companies are interested in measuring their socio-economic…

Business in the Community, the business led responsible business charity  is researching the future of the UN Millennium Development Goals and the Post 2015 development agenda. We have a number of opportunities that would be of great value to the users of the Practitioner Hub:

MDGs Post 2015 Research

The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will expire in 2015, and the debate on what should follow them is underway. Many businesses are seeing business…

The use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to deliver UK aid has been multiplying and looks set to increase in the coming years.

Earlier this year Endeavor Insight, the research arm of Endeavor, cited evidence indicating that when faced with tradeoffs between social and financial goals, entrepreneurs who lead social enterprises should prioritize financial goals. Linda Rottenberg, CEO of Endeavor, posting on the Harvard Business Review,…

By Abiodun S. Momodu[1] and Garba Bala Magaji[2]

Introduction

Energy is of strategic importance to economic development at both the micro and macro levels as a major driver for economic growth. Makamashi Energy is a business seeking to achieve three core objectives in this sector: making a profit; helping poor households through the provision of briquettes as an affordable energy source; and mitigating the negative…

An interesting new report has been released by the DCED on lessons from experience of donor partnerships with business, including the Business Innovation Facility in its sample et. Its focus is specifically on partnerships that involve sharing costs (and risks), including co-investment, with the objective of promoting PSD and economic opportunities. …

Organizations operate within an ecosystem made up of stakeholders that have different levels of influence on their operations. An organization’s ability to effectively identify and interact with stakeholders who make up its ecosystem, leveraging it to achieve organizational goals is a skill that delivers competitive advantage in a constantly evolving marketplace. This skill is even more critical in the marketing of social goods/products which requires behavioural change for mass adoption.…

One would think that with all the attention being paid to and the plethora of literature available on the topic of distribution channels and strategies to reach underserved income segments and geographies, most problems would have been long solved. However, going by the experiences of those of us at BIF working directly with the companies that are facing these problems, most cookie-cutter solutions do not work.  Companies either give up or get frustrated after repeated…

We recently held Knowledge Sharing and IAP Information sessions in Lusaka on the 25^th and Chipata in the Eastern Province of Zambia on the 27^th April.  The events were jointly hosted between the Business Innovation Facility (BIF) and Innovations Against Poverty (IAP) with their primary purpose being marketing/outreach for the upcoming 5^th cycle deadline for IAP grants in the 30^th of April 2013.  We are however also taking every opportunity in these…

Why are price-cutting and radio adverts NOT a good investment for companies selling innovative products to BOP consumers?   Why throw your solar lantern on the floor to encourage sales ?  Why are unsatisfied customers the key to market growth? And a better bet than donor-funded marketing campaigns?

These questions are all answered in an excellent new guide to 'Marketing Innovative Devices…

“No, probably I won’t purchase this”- we were surprised. This is the reply of one mid-aged government employee whom we interviewed last week in Dhaka while conducting our survey for feasibility study of commercial fortified biscuit. Fortified biscuit was previously produced by factories for the sole purpose of School Feeding Program (SFP); however, this survey has been conducted to understand the market demand for fortified biscuit in commercial level.

This kind of straightforward…

Web and Editorial Administrator, Inclusive Business Hub

(Part-time, with potential to go full-time) 

About the project: The Practitioner Hub for Inclusive Business is a website and online community for anyone developing a business that delivers both commercial return and…

As 3S Shramik, we feel that slum sanitation does not only mean providing toilets where there is scarcity of facilities , rampant cases of open defecation or even in the maintenance of existing toilets through providing cleaning services but in achieving total sanitation in all areas of the lives of the people living in slums or informal settlements.

Time and time again we insist that education is an important tool that should be used hand in hand with any intervention being done…

"If we want to do business model innovation, that’s big medicine. It will require we throw away some of the stuff that has made us successful. And it will touch almost everyone. If we’re going to take that on, the CEO must take a heavy hand."

Mike Shipulski, in a blog entitled 'Innovation Eats Itself'.…

Creative Distribution Models for the base of the pyramid: How Eco-fuel Africa is changing the lives of marginalized mothers in Uganda by turning them into micro-retailers of clean fuel briquettes

Meet Prosy, a 28-year old mother of three beautiful girls. Prosy is a school drop-out and her husband left her for another woman. Prosy has no past business experience. She can’t read or write. She has never left her village. All she knows is a life of misery and lack of opportunity.…

One of the main challenges to last mile reach in rural areas is the cost of setting up physical infrastructure. Given this scenario, it was exciting to undertake a study on what allied services could potentially be offered through the vast, pan India retail fuel station networks of oil marketing companies. The aim of exploring this opportunity is twofold – address the needs of fuel customers and the surrounding rural community while also building brand strength, customer stickiness and…