SELCO India is a rural energy service company, with its headquarters in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Established in 1995, to disprove the following 'myths' and over the last 20 years
- Poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies
- Installed over 450,000 so called 'expensive' solar solutions for the poor which have been paid for by the poor using various financing methods designed by SELCO India and its financial partners that match their cash flows.
- Poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies
- Combining door step service models via energy service centers and hiring local youths to maintain the solar systems in rural areas. Many of the employees of SELCO India are from the local villages adding a sense of trust and responsibility that is crucial when targeting underserved communities.
- Social ventures cannot be run as commercial entities
- SELCO India has successfully grown many folds over the years while promoting energy services like solar power to the rural poor. It has maintained modest profits in the last 8 years with growth rates at an annual average of 20%. It has reinvested its profits back into the company for further growth.
A well recognized social entrepreneur Mr. Harish Hande has co-founded SELCO India in 1995 (with Neville Williams) to provide solar electricity for lighting and power to India's poor. During its initial years of operation, the company expanded deliberately as it gained capital and experience. during the early 2000s, company has tried to expand its business for which SELCO India created a franchised dealer network, This Attempt hurted company's financials and deviated from its original mission to help the poor. As the company was recovering from this move, the price of solar panels spiked and sales declined. Investors put pressure on Mr. Hande to lay off employees and contract the organization.
With the help of the World Bank's commercial finance arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Mr. Hande was able to restructure the company in 2008. SELCO India remained a for-profit business, but Mr. Hande was able to seek new investors more aligned with its mission. In addition, Mr. Hande was able to keep his sales and service organization intact, complete with its core of highly motivated employees.
SELCO India has strived and accomplished a very important feet in solar power market, i.e. innovative designs, whatever solution they have offered it was redesigned to meet specific requirement of end-user, be it street vendors, or housewives every customer got benefit from SELCO India's innovation driven product development,. Basis of their design concepts starts from a deep and careful understanding of needs of the poor.
Other attribute which contributed to SELCO India's product success is SELCO India's ability to provide a microfinance solution along with its innovative and useful products, Mr. Hande and his team have realised it very early in their SELCO India journey that Finance is a very important factor for such product and target population, as the cost of solar panels and batteries were out of reach for low income group, SELCO India invested time and cultivated strong partnerships with banks and microfinance organizations in order to provide very creative & efficient financial solutions to assist target population to fulfill their electricity needs and easily repay for their capital investment.
Although all the grass was not green, SELCO India's Design strategy and product development timelines were time-consuming & costly, SELCO India was able to serve its solutions to 450,000 households in 20 years, allowing their customers to increase their income & quality of life. It was very evident that SELCO India's Current reach was not enough considering India's vast demographics, where 40 crore low income group people are still not able to garner benefits of affordable and Sustainable Energy Solutions. This gap demands for an immediate expansion of SELCO India's services. Observers frequently wondered if SELCO India's activities could be scaled up to extend solar energy's benefits to more people.