d.light India: Successful In Transforming 100 Million Lives
(by d.light India)
d.light is a front-runner in providing access to clean and affordable energy to millions of people across 70 countries globally. Founded at Stanford University in 2006, the journey of d.light has been the most remarkable one, touching and transforming over 100 million lives till 2020.
Currently, we are working on expanding our portfolio with indigenously manufactured products under the ‘Make in India’ initiative to deliver energy-efficient and sustainable energy solutions to millions of households and help reduce the carbon footprint. We have set an ambitious goal of transforming one billion lives globally by 2030 with sustainable products.
d.light journey and impact
Our journey has been an incredible one with many challenges and opportunities. We put in concerted efforts to better the lives of millions of people worldwide by delivering reliable and economical power sources. In 2008, we developed our first product, and since then, we have constantly been expanding our operations and reach across the globe. In March 2010, we hit the milestone of transforming 1 million lives. Besides that, we also introduced our new solar lantern, as we believe in the continuous updating of design and models.
d.light also introduced a new solar study lamp in 2011, and by then, we had transformed 5 million lives with our energy-efficient initiative. The social impact of our products and initiative was recognized by Forbes when our founders were recognized among the World’s Top 30 Social Entrepreneurs in November 2011. Not only the West but the Middle East has also recognized d.light’s efforts towards creating a sustainable future as we won the Zayed Future Energy Prize, the UAE’s global recognition award in sustainability in 2013. d.light has continued its journey in social entrepreneurship through its efforts to universalize access to clean, reliable, and affordable electricity.
In 2015, d.light launched the Pay-Go enabled Solar Home System in Kenya. This was a great leap in terms of launching a full-fledged home system powered by solar energy in a country with a solar surplus. By July 2015, we had successfully transformed the lives of 50 million people with the help of our products. In 2016, d.light TV won the Global LEAP Award for outstanding Off-grid television. We had been instrumental in providing sustainable mass communication systems, thus broadening our global impact.
2020 was a difficult year for all businesses, but d.light has continued to grow. We’ve kept true to our mission and have won the Gold Prize in Edison Awards 2020 for our A2 Solar Lanterns. In the same year, d.light was globally recognized for transforming a staggering 100 million lives through its sustainable products at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The solar energy solutions and sustainable products offered by d.light have led to the empowerment of over 107 million people. It has also contributed towards a Clean Environment by offsetting 24 million tons of CO2. This has led to huge savings to the tune of $4.3 billion in energy-related expenses. One of the most crucial social impacts of the Solar lanterns produced by d.light has been that they have reached 28 million school-aged children, thus brightening their future. 23 billion productive hours have been created through the efforts d.light has made in the sustainability domain.
Now, we are ushering into the next phase of development whereby we have changed our mission statement from “Making Lives Brighter” to “Transforming lives with Sustainable Products”. In keeping with our mission, we have set an ambitious goal to transform the lives of over 1 billion people by 2030. India has been an important market for us because of its large consumer base as well as the focus on sustainability that has been a part of its culture as well as government initiatives (UJALA programme, etc.). d.light has been able to transform the lives of over 42 million people in India through its sustainable product offerings.
Insights into India’s changing energy landscape
d.light’s webinar in March 2021, Changing Energy Needs and Delivering the Solutions to the Last Mile, brought together leaders of various clean energy space companies operating in the clean energy space, microfinance institutions, and NBFCs to discuss energy access and solutions required in a post-Saubhagya-scheme India and the challenges associated with delivering solutions to the last mile.
The webinar was graced by stellar panelists including, Mr. Ned Tozun, CEO d.light, Ms. Anjali Garg, Energy Specialist, International Finance Corporation, Mr. Piyush Mathur, Non-Executive Director, CLEAN, Ms. Aditi Singh, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, Satin Creditcare Network Limited, Mr. Shalabh Saxena, MD and CEO, Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited, Mr. Sadaf Sayeed, CEO, Muthoot Microfin Ltd, Mr. Manoj Nambiar, MD, Arohan Finance Services Limited, Mr. Gaurav Mehta, CEO, Dharma Life Foundation, Mr. Pradeep Singhal, MD PENNCO Enterprises, and Mr. Pravin Kumar, India Co-ordinator, GOGLA. The discussion gravitated upon the changing energy landscape in India and the role that the MFIs, product Companies (d.light), and supply-chain networks can play in fulfilling the energy needs at the grass-root level.
The webinar and perspective of our esteemed speakers have brought one conclusion for d.light’s future business plans: Indian customers are ready to use sustainable clean energy products in their homes, in their agricultural fields, and in commercial shops. d.light is also a front runner in solar inverter expansion in India to cater to its rising energy demand. As d.light continues on its growth trajectory, we strive to forge collaborative partnerships with the various delivery services, agencies, and companies to expand our reach and serve more people.
Our vision ahead
d.light has made great strides in transforming the lives of millions of people worldwide in the past decade. We continue to set ambitious goals, raising the bar regularly, to transform a billion lives in the next decade. For this, d.light strives to be inclusive in providing solar energy products to a wide customer base in the hinterlands as well as the urban areas. With a human-centric approach to product design and development, we strive to cater to the needs of the consumers in a sustainable way.
