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Light and Life in Rural India

We recently spent two days in villages in the District of Udupi in the State of Karnataka in India meeting with sales agents and visiting homes where the Duron Solar Home System was in use.  We were there with three of our investors who had already spent a day in Bangalore at our headquarters reviewing the business and now wanted to see the system in use in the field. No one can really understand the selling of consumer durables in rural India without such visits.  We chose Udupi, since it was "only" a ninety-minute plane ride to Mangalore and another ninety-minute drive to the town. Most of the installations were within 30 minutes of the town itself.

The State of Karnataka is reasonably well electrified. One has to travel deep into the rain forests to find an area without wiring.  Almost all of our systems in this state are in homes with electricity from the grid.  However, because of the uncertainty of when power is actually available and the cost, the villagers are interested in alternative power sources.

The grid in this area gets its power from both hydro and coal-fired utilities. In the dry season the hydropower is less available because of low water levels.  What is available from whatever source gets diverted to the industrial sector. These are usually scheduled diversions that occur when the light is most needed, i.e., when it is getting dark. In the monsoon season, which is just beginning, the grid itself has more power delivered to it, but the violence of the storms causes unscheduled outages from lightning or power lines falling, which can sometimes produce two or three days without power.

The alternatives are kerosene lamps, diesel generators, inverters drawing power from the grid when it is available and storing it in batteries, or alternative energy sources, primarily solar, tied into a battery and lighting system of some sort. The Duron system is one of the latter. Cost, reliability, maintenance and simple knowledge of its availability are the primary factors determining which alternative is chosen.  Kerosene lamps are ever present as the ultimate fall back when all else fails.

The visit, while terrifying and certainly rugged for us Westerners, was exciting and gratifying. I say terrifying, because any time one is on the narrow roads with all forms of traffic moving in all directions, the near-death confrontations of two or more vehicles and an occasional animal seem continuous and only Providentially resulting in no accident.  The ruggedness comes from the climate, the accommodations and the rural nature of where the customers are, combined with the uncertainty of the ultimate outcome of drinking all the chai and eating the snacks offered by the owners of each of the homes we visited.

The excitement and gratification came from seeing the diverse ways in which the system is changing lives. A few examples:

A young tailor keeps the solar panel, the power pack and one of the three LED lights that come with the system at his small, unelectrified shop at the intersection of two roads near his village. He sits in front of a pedal-powered Singer sewing machine of uncertain vintage, making and repairing clothing for his neighbors. The single light is used to extend his workday by two or more hours, increasing his income. When he closes up his shop, he locks the solar panel inside and brings the portable power pack home where he has the other two lights mounted for use by his children to study and his wife to cook.  He is probably a customer for a second system when the income from his increased business and the cost savings from using solar as his power source allow a purchase.

A woman, living far away from neighbors and help, tends her very sick sister. The two of them are the only occupants of the home. She says simply that she needs light for her sister all night. Kerosene is not healthy for her sister and not easily available to someone with no ready form of transportation to replenish it.  And the grid is not there when she needs it.  It doesn't hurt that the system also has a cell phone charger, which does mean, in an emergency she has a working phone to reach someone.

A large family, living in a quite beautiful and well-kept 150-year-old home, has the three lights each installed above a desk that is used for reading and study by the children and probably some of the adults. This is a traditional home with electric lighting but much of what seems a throwback to an earlier era. The kitchen has a wood cookstove and there are many other traditional elements as well. The family can clearly afford more amenities, but I would surmise that they are savers, not spenders.  The placement of the lights in specific reading areas may indicate that the saving relates to the children and their educational opportunities. Solar lighting eliminates most excuses for not studying as well as ultimately saving money. Here, we were offered and ate freshly cut jackfruit. It would have been pleasant to spend an afternoon with the family, understanding more about their history and their current lifestyle. Our sales person had another important visit she wanted us to make, though.

This was our best sales person in the region—a senior member of a local self-help group with a personality and an element of persuasiveness that made her a natural Dale Carnegie graduate without having taken the course.  We were an out-of-place group of three Americans, three Spaniards, and two other senior Indian executives of the company. She felt it was an auspicious occasion. Our visit was to her temple. She was feeling very happy about having us there and wanted to perform a Puja (look it up) in thanks for the good feelings and the success she was having. It was quite an honor for us and clearly very important to her. As recognition of her success it certainly beat the classic over the top celebrations for the best producers that I experienced in my years in the financial industry. I will participate in a Puja every time I visit the area if it is the motivator of success for our producers.

These producers are changing their neighbors' lives. The selling process has a bit of a feel of Avon calling, but the product lights up faces in a different manner.  What a wonderful experience.

 

About the Author

Jack Rivkin has had a long and varied career in the Investment Industry encompassing Private and Public Equity, Investment Policy and Management. He is known as a keen observer of investment and business strategy, and a superb manager of highly talented professionals. He retired in early 2008 as Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Asset Management of Neuberger Berman.  He was also a member of Neuberger's Executive Management Committee, the Lehman Brothers Council on Climate Change and the Neuberger Berman Climate Change Fund Advisory Board. He has been engaged with the United Nations as well as the Atlantische Initiative on policy issues related to Private Capital and Climate Change. He is an Associate Fellow of the Asia Society. He retired from Neuberger to devote more time to Climate Change and related Investing and Policy issues. His blog on Climate Change can be accessed at http://blog.contracarbon.com.

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