Gussai H. Sheikheldin, University of Guelph The East Africa Masterclass at Terrat focused on the village level experience of off-grid energy. We have invited local leaders and rural energy providers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi and Tanzania. We were keen for village headmen and headwomen to share their village experiences of energy provision and to tell us about the outcomes and impacts of productive energy use in relation to standards of living, education, heath and employment in the village. The workshop heard from the off grid energy providers about their achievements and challenges in bringing off-grid energy to villages and how they have worked with village leaders and the village community.

1. Gussai H. Sheikheldin
University of Guelph
Sustainable Energy Needs Sustainable
Models of Commercialization

2. Background
 PhD researcher with the School of Environmental
Design and Rual Development (SEDRD),
University of Guelph
 Field Research in Tanzania: Social Enterprises as
Agents of Technology Diffusion in Rural Tanzania
 Case Studies: KAKUTE, Tanzania Domestic
Biogas Program, Agro-machinery Enterprises,
Solar lanterns distribution enterprises, etc.

3. Renewable Energy Technologies
and the Diffusion Models
 The technologies: Solar Photovoltaics, Biogas
digesters, and Improved Cookstoves
 The models:
 Microfranchizing: effective for last-mile distribution
of small products with minimum technical
maintenance requireents. Example: Rafiki Network,
Global Cycle Solutions
 Sector micro-enterprise cultivation: a new
technology is introduced together with the technical
standards and its micro-enterprises. Example:
Biogas Construction Enterprises, Tanzania
Domestic Biogas Programme.

4. Models (continued)
 Business-Technology Incubation:
 Incubators take infant ventures (or business ideas)
and provide space, training and coaching, linkages,
market intelligence, and path to graduation as free-
standing firms.
 In context of renewable energy, in developing
societies, the technical and the business aspects
are knitted together.
 Example: KAKUTE as incubator of solar PV
enterprises (Mobisol).
 from small home system prototype  R&D  ready-for-
market product  market intelligence + business model 
commercialization phase one graduation.

5. Last Remarks
 Sustainable rural technologies need sustainable
rural economic cycles.
 The technical and the institutional are woven
together.
 Innovating new systems is inevitable, not just a
good option.