The 17-year journey to return what he owes the society was not easy and he is not done yet. There is a lot more that he wants to give back and encourages youth to take up entrepreneurship with a mix of social responsibility, sustainability and value addition to the life of human beings.
Here is the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Harish Hande, a pioneer in installing solar power in households. He has installed solar power in 125,000 households through his company Selco India, unleashing the facets of life, entrepreneurship and much more to Vinit Kumar Koneru.
Was serving in the rural areas high on your agenda when you completed your education?
Yes, to a large extent I had made up my mind. Giving back to the country is one primary thing on mind. The purpose was not essentially targeted at the villages. It was for the poor, be it in the rural or urban areas. Bangalore city alone has over 3,000 households who don’t have access to electricity. Taking electricity to each and every person and bringing them on an equal platform to compete is the agenda.
How much have you sacrificed to make your mission a reality?
I haven’t sacrificed anything. Look at what the poor have sacrificed and compromised just to make ends meet. Had there been electricity and access to education to those 500 million brilliant people, I definitely wouldn’t have made it to the IIT and got a PhD in Energy Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
After enjoying best of the education and services at the cost of their lifestyle, it is morally wrong and unacceptable for me to say I had sacrificed anything to make their life better.
You busted the myth that poor can’t afford technology.
There is a misconception in our mind that poor can’t afford technology. As a proportion of earnings, a poor man on the street spends more on energy requirements than a regular person with access to electricity.
The poor spend 10-12 per cent of their income on dirty energy (kerosene and coal). The reason why this misconception rises to the brim lies in the fact that many companies push their products which are not suited to the requirements of these people who do not have access to electricity.
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For example, if a person requires electricity to light a 40 watt bulb, why will he buy a technology that will cost him heavily and supply 500 watts of power? Then companies tag that poor can’t afford technology. The fact of the matter is that most of the companies do not innovate. To a large extent I don’t think bracketing them in segments like Bottom of Pyramid or Below the Poverty Line is a good thing for corporates to approach them.
How will the poor afford the initial investment? They lack finances and the banking system is not well developed in India?
We have a strong network of 40,000 banks in our country which no other country has. The problem is inclusivity. The banks should design the loan packages in such a way that poor can afford to avail them. For instance, a poor villager, when asked if he pay '300 per month to avail the technology, replied in the negative. But said, he can pay '10 per day but not '300 a month for this.
India is growing at 7-8 per cent and it is said the fruits of development will trickle down to every person.
The growth we are talking about is highly unsustainable. Here we have one section who have grown 100 per cent and more, and people who have contracted. Aggregation is what we see as 8-9 per cent. Growing, taking every person along is growth for me.
How is Selco different from any other solar power systems provider?
At Selco we don’t just act like a salesman selling his product. We actually understand the requirements of the person, put ourselves in his position and ask, will I buy this according to my requirements? If we are totally convinced that this will fit his requirements, we install it. Being an environmental-friendly company, producing solar power systems is not enough if the company fails to supply according to the needs of the people.
How difficult is it to take up social entrepreneurship?
Every entrepreneurship has to be social. At the end of the day your venture should be able to make value addition to the life of the people you are serving and also value addition in the life of people working for you. Many a times people complain that the government is a hurdle. People will not accept it. But, I have never in my 17 years of experience, encountered such problems. You have to have passion for what you are doing... passion will sail you through all the frustrations on the way. And the passion should be so high that you ask for more frustrations.