entreprenuership

1. By Rushil Parikh(19-BPS-051)
SELCO Solar Light Private Limited
SELCO Solar Light Private Limited, established by Harish Hande in 1995. It’s a social
venture focused on meeting the needs of poor households lacking adequate access to
electricity. The start –up operates in spaces where there is market failure and the public
intervention falling short of expectations.
Seeking the market requirements, Hande realized that solar solutions had to be customized
to the particular requirements of each client group different technical and financial
arrangements than did urban street hawkers, midwives, or schools. The company became
noted for creating innovative solutions to bring solar energy to market segments that others
considered impractical. Because of the intense design process, SELCO’s growth was slow,
but steady. By the end of its first decade of operation, SELCO had reached more than half a
million people by electrifying some 80,000 households, micro-enterprises and community
facilities, making it one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) providers in the world. Just after its
first decade, SELCO became the object of intense internal and external pressure to grow
faster, scaling up the business and reach more customers. The company had to face
numerous challenges such as -
 Setting up service centers
 Bank financing and scheduling the repayment
 Scaling up issues
 Inability to pay the expected return on the loan taken from the investors
 Franchisees were not getting enough margins because of increased price in the solar
cell by 47 percent.
 Intensification of RGGVY
 Raising capital, designing products and getting the right work force in its endeavour
to provide electricity through solar power.
 This pressure led to a few missteps during SELCO’s next phase of operations,
including an unsuccessful franchising scheme i.e., create replicas of the company
(called Baby SELCOs) in other parts of India and unhappy investors who wanted
higher returns.
Given that nearly 300 million people in India had no access to electricity, SELCO’s
decentralized and low-cost model had tremendous opportunities. In order to meet the
challenge SELCO had decided to create more SELCO rather than create one big
organization. The strategy involved networking with NGOs such as SEWA identifying the
right type social entrepreneurs. SELCO which had to undergo a steep learning curve in
designing product, getting finance and setting of service centre can pass that knowledge to
these entrepreneurs. Thus shortening their learning curve and identify the promising ones to
link with social funds such as Aavishkaar. SELCO had given training to six such
entrepreneurs and hope to achieve another 12 in the next few years. The inflection point that
SELCO faced was in choosing the best way to leverage the immense potential for solar
energy in India without compromising its social mission.