A Recipe for Successful Social Innovation

 Photo Source:labl.teriin.org

 

In the last class, Prof Zak rightly pointed out that to sustain any innovation we need an organization. An organization which ensures the innovation is technically feasible, economically viable and socially acceptable.

 

In this post, I would like to draw the reader’s attention to an example where innovative financial mechanism and effective institutional set up has contributed significantly in making the social innovation successful in India. Yes, some of you guessed it right! The Solar lantern.

Here, I would like to refer to ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ campaign by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in India. The mission of this campaign is to make such solar lamps available to families in unelectrified rural part of India. What I found interesting was their innovative approach in financing, institutional set up and delivery mechanism.(www. labl.teriin.org)

TERI identified local entrepreneurs in the targeted rural areas, trained them to start their enterprise of renting the solar lamps every evening to the rural population for a nominal fee. Then every morning the villagers would bring back the lamps for charging and in the evening again they would rent for a night. Entrepreneurs were provided different financial options; facilitating loan through financial institutions, subsidized partial cost through TERI and/or other partner organizations to install the charging station.

Also, TERI has set up local level enterprise called TRC (Technology Resources Centre) run by local youth who are trained in providing after sale service. In addition to provide sale service, they are also authorized to market and sell these lamps in the specific territory.

This approach has been successful in sustaining innovation because now people living in these areas have an access to light for long hours, even if their lantern breaks or stop functioning, they have an easy access to TRC where they could get fixed and most important of all it is helping them in augmenting their income either by setting up local enterprise around this innovation or by providing extended hours of light to women entrepreneurs. One example of such entrepreneur is here in the video.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FD9K5GELa8&feature=player_embedded

However, I would like to highlight my concern with this kind of model. These solar lamps were made available for rent for a nominal fee or TERI was able to help local entrepreneur set up this enterprise because part of the cost for setting up such enterprise was contributed by International or government agency. Is it that without adequate grants from outside sources, we would not have been able to provide rural populace an access to such low cost lamps? Is it that without help from outside the success of such innovation remains a question?

 Can we think of an innovation model in which we no longer have to be dependent on funds from outside?