SJMSOM, IIT BOMBAY

SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
SOUL LAMPS
Business Entrepreneurship Development
Project
Aditya Das
Abhishek Sahoo
Deepthi Sunil

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129278115
129278012
129278095

Table of Contents
1.

OVERVIEW....................................................................................................... 2

2.

OBJECTIVE....................................................................................................... 2

3.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA.............................................................2

4.

CHALLENGES IN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA...................................3

5.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOLAR ENERGY SECTOR............................................4

6.

INDUSTRY COST REDUCTION TREND FOR SOLAR ENERGY..............................5

7.

INDEPTH STUDY OF SOUL PROJECT- SOLAR URJA LAMPS.................................6

7.1.

OVERVIEW................................................................................................. 6

7.2.

BACKGROUND........................................................................................... 6

7.3.

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................... 6

7.3.1.

Target Customers................................................................................ 6

7.3.2.

Stakeholders....................................................................................... 6

7.3.3.

Business Strategy...............................................................................6

7.4.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT....................................................................7

7.5.

4 P ANALYSIS............................................................................................. 8

7.6.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE......................................................................9

7.7.

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS................................................................................. 9

7.7.1.

8.

Cost Structure..................................................................................... 9

7.8.

FINANCIAL MODEL................................................................................... 10

7.9.

LIFECYCLE OF SOUL PROJECT..................................................................11

7.10.

IMPACT OF THE PROJECT......................................................................12

7.11.

CHALLENGES FOR SOUL PROJECT........................................................12

7.12.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO SOUL PROJECT...............................................13

7.13.

CONCLUSION........................................................................................ 14

APPENDIX...................................................................................................... 15

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1. OVERVIEW
The project Social Entrepreneurship: SOUL LAMPS is done as a part
of academic curriculum in Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management. The
project is associated with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and
Govt. of India. It aims to assemble and distribute Solar Urja lamps (SOUL)
to school students of various states across the country. Major objective of
the project is to enable education of underserved communities in rural
areas and also aims to promote local employment.

2. OBJECTIVE
The main objective is to analyse the 1 million SOUL lamps project, a
social entrepreneurship initiative by IIT Bombay. During the course of the
project we intend to study the scope of entrepreneurship in solar energy
sector. We also intend to understand the scope, objectives and impact of
1 million SOUL lamps project. We also aim to identify challenges and
suggest recommendations for the project.

3. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

Organizations, both for-profit and non-profit use a non-profit business
model to practice social entrepreneurship projects. Such projects are
usually aimed at delivering services or goods which will benefit the society
as a whole. In the Indian context, organizations which pursue social
entrepreneurship face a lot of challenges like regulations, lack of required
funding and information. These challenges can be considerably simplified
by creating partnerships between government and non-governmental
organizations. The million soul project undertaken by Indian Institute of
Technology, Bombay funded by Government of India and Institutional
donors in association with the NGOs aims to surpass the above difficulties
to achieve the aim of distributing solar lamps among school children.
Social entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations are quite different from
each other as social entrepreneurs aim at both social benefits and
financial profits that the activity can bring about. Social entrepreneurs
depend upon donations and earnings for their working capital whereas
non-profit organizations mainly depend on donations by trusts. Non-profit
organizations main aim is to deliver the social goals and not to garner
profits.
Social entrepreneurship projects are not a new concept in India. There are
several other projects which have been executed in the past. Based on the
study on Participatory research in Asia (PRIA), there are over 1.2 million
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non-profit organizations in India which employ over 20 million people as

both paid employees and volunteers. Few of the examples for such
organizations include hospitals like Narayana Hridayala and Aravind Eye
hospital in the health sector which offer its services at very low prices
compared to other private sector hospitals.

4. CHALLENGES IN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

Social entrepreneurs face a lot of challenges in India. Lack of education
about entrepreneurship is one among them. Not many educational
institutions offer courses to educate the population of India about the
various facets of entrepreneurship. Also it is not very easy for social
entrepreneurs to raise money for the cause they are working on. The
banks hesitate to offer loans for social enterprise projects as they do not
offer the attractive value proposition of achieving higher and higher profits
and constant flow of revenues. Hence the socials entrepreneurs mainly
resort to philanthropic organizations for funding.
One of the main hindrance social entrepreneurship project faces is that
the risk of people copying the business model devised. Once a social
entrepreneur devises a method to deliver a product or service at a
cheapest possible method to the target audience, a third party vendor
might offer the same product at a higher price and make more profit. The
presence of a third party might also increase competition or supplier
power of the suppliers from whom the entrepreneur is receiving the
product and hence increases his cost of operation. This might eventually
lead to the services not being offered to the target population at the
desired lowered nominal price.

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5. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOLAR ENERGY SECTOR

Indias current statistics regarding different important parameters playing
a major role in determining the scope of entrepreneurship in solar energy
sector have been listed below. We observe that the present scenario in
India is favourable enough for entrepreneurship ventures in solar energy
sector and the climatic conditions, situation of power crunch in rural areas
combined with Indian governments focus on alternatives for power
generation, esp. on renewable sources of energy provides a fabulous
scope for start-ups in this sector. Indian Government has separately
allocated funds for financing such ventures in its budgets in recent years.
Moreover, focus on primary education of children and availability of light
for children to study in rural areas has created an immense market for
solar energy illumination products. A look into such encouraging statistics
is as follows:
1. India's land solar power reception is about 5000 Petawatt-hours per
year (PWh/yr) (5,000 trillion kWh/yr)
2. Daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 to 7
kWh/m2
3. 1,5002,000 sunshine hrs./year (depending upon location)- far more
than current total energy consumption
4. Demand for rural solar home lighting systems in India to reach 3,000
MW by 2018
5. Solar power production costs have fallen 54% in the past 3 years
6. As on 31st Dec 2013, 31981 villages in India are unelectrified- market
for solar rural lighting is immense

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7. MNRE has received an allocation of Rs 441 crores in 2014

Source: http://loopsolar.com/learning-center/

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6. INDUSTRY COST REDUCTION TREND FOR SOLAR

ENERGY

From the above graph, we see that from 2011 to 2015, the cost of
Polysilicon has declined by 6%. Polysilicon is an important ingredient in
making solar energy illumination products like solar lamps and
reduction in its cost over the years will encourage more entrepreneurs
to venture into start-ups in this product segment. We also see that the
productivity, procurement and incremental technology improvements
have led to cost reduction by 8, 8 and 10% respectively. This is such an
encouraging indication for entrepreneurs to dwell into solar energy
start-ups.
On the other hand, we see that for levelized cost of electricity, the
decline in productivity and procurement costs have reduced by just 4%
and 1% respectively while incremental technology improvements have
led to a meagre 6% reduction in cost of producing electricity.
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Source: Solar power: Darkest before dawn - McKinsey & Company

7. INDEPTH STUDY OF SOUL PROJECT- SOLAR URJA

LAMPS
7.1. OVERVIEW
A study on Localization of Solar Energy through Local Assembly, Sale and
Usage of 1 Million Solar Study Lamps by partnering with NGOs for
distribution and selling. It is a unique entrepreneurial venture with an
immense social commitment of improving the lives of rural people,
enabling school going children in rural areas to read and thus having the
potential of playing a major impacting role in improving the literacy levels
in rural India.

7.2. BACKGROUND
India is a young country with a population of 1.2 billion. Census reports of
2011 show that more than 350 million of the population is under the age
of 14 years. In India many rural areas do not have access to electricity.
People in rural areas mostly use kerosene for lighting purpose. Petroleum
in India is mostly imported adding extra load on government for Balance
of Payments and also widens fiscal deficit. Therefore, government is
emphasizing on clean alternative sources of energy through National Solar
Mission. Besides, lack of electricity is stated as one of the critical reasons
of extremely low literacy rate in rural India.

7.3. INTRODUCTION
In response to such conditions affecting the education of school children in
remote rural communities, the project Localization of Solar Energy
through Local Assembly, Sale and Usage of 1 Million Solar Study Lamps is
proposed by IIT Bombay to the Government of Indias Ministry of Finance,
National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF). Such Social Entrepreneurial projects
empower the populations in underserved communities and improve the
quality of their lives.
7.3.1.
Target Customers
IIT Bombay in collaboration with Non-Government Organizations aims to
provide solar study lamps for school in three states Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan. These lamps can be used for their daily night
studies, and other educational programs.
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7.3.2.
Stakeholders
The project involves various stakeholders at different levels of the
project which include IIT Bombay, Institutional Partners/NGOs, Vendors of
solar lamp kits, School Authority and End consumers i.e., students.
7.3.3.
Business Strategy
The purchase of up to 1 Million SOUL kits (components of SOUL in
disassembled form) from vendors will be done throughout the year. The
rate contract for selection of vendors is extended for a period of 1 year;
this may be extended for one more year. The project involves
procurement of parts of solar lamp from government approved suppliers.
Inventory of these parts will be maintained at a central warehouse. From
here lamp kits will be distributed to rural areas to partner institutions
(NGOs). These partner institutions will assemble and distribute solar
lamps to the students.

7.4. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Three major objectives of the project are as follows:
Education
Empowering rural children through education, by providing an
environment friendly solar lamp to encourage them to come to school and
thereby reduce the dropouts and increase their performance in the school
Energy
As per census 2011, around 43 % of the population use kerosene for
lighting purpose. Usage of solar lamps consumes only 1 Watt/ year for
each kid. Implementation of this project in full scale saves around 36, 000,
000 liters of kerosene per year and CO2 emission of 1, 00, 000, 000 kg/
year.
Economy
Localization of solar lamps creates employment for rural population. Major
source of employment is created through assembly, selling and repairing
the lamps. Also, it gives extra hours for children to study.

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7.5. 4 P ANALYSIS

SOUL lamps
deliver
bright
light
by
combining (LED)
with PRODUCT
crystalline
silicon
solar
panel
output of 150
lux
only draws 0.5
watt
Back up of min
Rate/
- Rs.
5hrs
in lamp
bright
500
light and 8hrs in
for
dimRate
light
students

Rs.120

4P

Rural PLACE
areas of 3
states:Maharashtra
MP
Rajasthan

Partnerships
with NGOs
Subsidized rates
for students

PRICE

PROMOTION

PRODUCT
SOUL lamps deliver bright soothing light by combining high-output light
Emitting Diode (LED) with high-performance crystalline silicon solar panel.
These specifications deliver an output of 150 lux at 21 height from the
LED and only draws 0.5 watt. To meet your energy requirement during the
time of dark hours with a battery backup of minimum 5 hours on high
intensity mode and 8 hours on low intensity mode derived from charging
by a solar panel.
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PLACE
Target customers are students of rural areas of three states namely,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
PRICE
A typical solar lamp cost to customer is Rs 500. Students will be asked to
pay Rs 120.
PROMOTION
Students are the end users of SOUL. Solar lamps are sold to students
above 5th Standard in the schools identified. After subsidized rates, each
school student has to pay Rs. 120/ SOUL.

7.6. ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

The SOUL Project will be headed by Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PI.
There will be many more investigators who will be allocated areas to
monitor. Project staffs will be appointed as per the criteria laid down in the
selection process and subsequently roles will be allocated to them. Senior
Project Manager (SPM) will be looking after the operations of the project.
SPM will ensure smooth functioning of operations at both IITB and district
levels. Project staffs for various roles and responsibilities will be appointed
to support the SPM in day to day working of the project.
Area Managers (or District managers) will be appointed for each area to
look after local functioning of the project. He will be under monitoring from
the investigators to provide relevant information as and when required. He
will also be responsible keeping informed the SPM/project staffs at IITB. He
will be the source for co-ordination at the local area level. Monitoring will
be done by project staffs to oversee the smooth functioning of project at
local level.
Million Soul Project comes under Matrix project which attempts to blend
the properties of both Pure as well as Functional project. There is resource
utilization from different functional areas. In this structure, communication
between functional divisions is enhanced.

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7.7. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

7.7.1.

Cost Structure

Source: http://www.millionsoul.iitb.ac.in/node/10

7.8. FINANCIAL MODEL

Source: http://www.millionsoul.iitb.ac.in/node/10

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Money in the form of grants from GoI, State Governments, CSR and
individuals will be used for activities to make the project sustainable. As
we can see from the above diagram, the approximate gross price at
supplier end is Rs. 350 per kit. IIT B Co-ordination and execution will add
another Rs. 60 to the price while the cost of assembly and incentives will
add further Rs.60. Repairs and maintenance cost will be around Rs. 30 per
kit. So, approximately the SOUL solar kit will be priced around Rs. 500 for
a general customer while its discounted price for school going children is
Rs. 120 per solar kit so as to encourage the sale of these kits among
parents of school going children so that their children are able to read and
write and their education is not hampered due to non-availability of light
as there are several villages in rural India which do not get electricity
supply.
This is the social angle of the SOUL Project and together with focus on
leveraging on a renewable source of energy, solar energy; the SOUL
Project can prove to be of paramount importance in impacting the social
and economic situation of rural India.

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7.9. LIFECYCLE OF SOUL PROJECT

SOUL Project life cycle is a collection of sequentially occurring events or
phases within a project. There are four basic stages in a project life cycle:
a) Starting the project: This includes identifying the region of sales,
suppliers and data collection to move ahead with the project.
b) Organizing and preparing: Since the distribution and selling of SOUL
lamps is through NGOs, setting up NGOs for the project in different
states and imparting the right training as well as planning the demand
in collaboration with them is very necessary and comprises this stage.
c) Carrying out the project: Supply of SOUL kits, assembly of kits, delivery
to students, receiving payments from them and then collecting the
payments and verifying proper distribution to school students and
collection of payment receipts from the NGOs com prises the stage of
carrying out the project.
d) Closing the project: Closing the project comprises
reconciliation and documentation of activities performed.

of material

Project life cycle helps to identify the activities pertaining to different

phases of a project. And thus predict the cost and risk of changing an
activity at a given stage of the project.

Source: http://www.millionsoul.iitb.ac.in/node/10

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7.10.

IMPACT OF THE PROJECT

On implementation, the impact of this project on the economy is expected

to be as follows:

300 million extra study hours per year per student

Savings of 36 million litres of Kerosene per year

Reduced CO2 Emission by 100 million kg

Savings of US$ 26 million of foreign exchange to government

Direct Employment to local people for assembly and distribution

Affordable and Easy Maintenance of the lamp

Thus, this project has an immense potential to leverage on the favorable

scenario of the demand for solar energy illumination products in rural
markets and has an additional advantage of having the honor of serving
the society because these lamps will solve the lighting problems to a large
extent in villages due to non-availability of electricity, help students with
their education and thus will play a major role in improving the literacy
rate among rural people as a major cause for illiteracy among them is lack
of electricity and hence no lighting.

7.11.

CHALLENGES FOR SOUL PROJECT

Different challenges identified are: Rural areas lack efficient infrastructure facilities thus there is a
reduced reach to rural areas due to lack of efficient transportation.
Having the right people for the work is difficult as the urban youth
employed may have trouble relating to rural poor.
Myths about rural people; that rural people dont know how to use
these sustainable technologies.
Multiple stake holders are involved thus, there is a lack of
coordination between shareholders
Inefficient information flow was identified between the stakeholders.

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7.12.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO SOUL PROJECT

1. To make sure the sales revenues that are earned are actually
transferred to the IIT Bombay verification can be done by comparing
the revenue earned and the number of kits supplied by the suppliers to
the NGOs as per the orders given via IIT Bombay.
2. Once a particular district is covered, i.e. the minimum sales of 25000
units of solar lamps are covered and the operations are rolled off, all
the rest of the kits in that particular NGO has to be shipped back to IIT
or the NGO setup of another district as found convenient at that points
of time. But the number of kits shipped in that time, should be cross
checked with the purchase and sales record that IIT has. Any
discrepancy above a certain tolerable level (deviation of 10% above
the expected number of kits left behind) found should be investigated.
3. To make sure that the kits are actually being sold to school children
verification has to be done by IIT. It can be done by using the following
procedure. Each and every student who buys the solar lamp will be
given a bill which will have the details about the kid like Date of Birth,
Name, School name and the Class in which the student is studying. The
copy of all the bills will be sent to IIT by the NGO. IIT can get the
information about the students of the district in which the lamps are
being distributed. Names and the others required information can be
possibly collected from the District Education office. Once IIT receives
the copy of bills, the information in the bills can be cross verified with
the information that IIT has in the database. Considerable deviation in
the data can be considered as an indication towards the possible
breach in the distribution of the solar lamps to the students. This
activity can be done periodically say once in a month or at the end of
operations at a particular district.
4. An additional measure to ensure that the lamps are indeed being
distributed among the students would be to get an additional
verification from the school level. After a day of sales at a school, the
sales person of the NGO can get a document which specifies the
number of lamps sold by him that day sealed and signed by Principal or
any other equivalent person eligible to attest the same. This step has
to be done in addition to the earlier preventive measures.

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7.13.

CONCLUSION

Thus, the 1 million soul lamps project is an entrepreneurial venture in the

solar energy (renewable form of energy) sector of which currently, there is
immense scope and potential to impact the rural market of India in a
better way. This project being a social project, the main aim is to make
the solar lamps available to the target population and the usual methods
that are employed in the industry for minimized costs are not applicable
to the project. This project will enable the rural children of our country to
avail primary education and thus improve the literacy rate of our country.
It also shows the immense scope of entrepreneurship in solar energy
sector in our country and the favourable situation our countrys
government is providing to such projects by entrepreneurs. We suggest
that more and more entrepreneurial projects in solar energy sector should
be thought of by budding entrepreneurs as there is an immense demand
for solar energy products, costs are diminishing making such projects
economically viable, funding is easily available by venture capitalists,
Govt. of India is looking at such projects favourably and the social and
economic scenario in our country is conducive to such ventures in todays
time and age.

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8. APPENDIX
1. http://www.millionsoul.iitb.ac.in/node/10
2.

http://mnre.gov.in/schemes/decentralized-systems/solar-cities/

3.

http://mnre.gov.in/schemes/decentralized-systems/solar-systems/

4.

http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2014-15/bh/bh1.pdf

5.

http://loopsolar.com/learning-center/

6.

Solar power: Darkest before dawn - McKinsey & Company

7.

http://www.nextbigwhat.com/social-entrepreneurship-in-india-fundsprofitable-sectors-297/

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