Do most needed people have access to effective solutions and enablers?

In the readings of this week, most solutions are creative and relatively cheaper than other commercial products. You can buy a touch screen tablet for just $150, get a pair of glasses for about $20, learn any discipline online for free, and use green electricity at very low cost... All of the novel solutions and enablers indeed could improve people's lives, especially for them in rural districts and developing regions. But as a matter of fact, the most needed people, who cannot afford for the basic human needs, usually do not have access to these effective solutions. 

In some rural districts of China, electricity is limited for use, let alone Internet access. Some places suffer from water shortage and villagers do not have sufficient water supply to take care of personal hygiene. For example, marsh gas is applied in some villages to relieve energy shortage and make use of agricultural waste, such as crop stalks. However, many rural regions in western China still lack of technical support so that they are unable to adopt this simple solution.

It seems that social enterprises can only provide solutions to people who can afford. Some innovative solutions and enablers that are originally developed to fulfill basic needs in developing districts, such as Raspberry Pi microcomputers, are found have difficulty in approaching emerging market.

Although a social enterprise aims at addressing social issues, it still needs to make sustainable profits. Simply providing people free products is philanthropy but social entrepreneurship. To avoid some great solutions become formidable products for needed people, social innovators should find innovative way to make them more approachable.