Let There D.light!

The energy at the event was palpable, as Rob Katz from Acumen Fund describes in his blog about the event.  As D.light was one of the award finalists, the Sankalp team created a short video on D.light - check it out below. 

It’s all about Finance.  We know that the poorest customers often need consumer financing to purchase our lights – and that they often do not have the cash flow to pay for the full amount up-front.  When these customers have access to a microloan for the light, they can repay it incrementally with money they would have otherwise spent on kerosene.  We are working with financing institutions that can offer loans to their clients for our lights; Shell Foundation will help us with risk capital to jumpstart these relationships. 

And it’s all about Marketing.  People need to understand how solar works and know about D.light for us to convert them into customers.  With Shell funding we can test out a variety of marketing activities, from grassroots promotions to mass media radio ads.  Once we identify the most effective strategies, we’ll integrate those into our ongoing operations. 

These two pieces – market education and financing – will help us effectively reach more people closer to the base of the pyramid.  The planning for these activities is underway!  The timing is perfect as we’ve been setting up our distribution network across specific Indian states.  We are excited to use Shell Foundation funds to reach deeper rural than we could on our own, to test out marketing activities, and to learn what combinations of consumer financing and market education will allow us to achieve higher penetration and truly move the needle in eradicating kerosene.


 

We have sales offices in India and East Africa, but do sell to other countries worldwide, primarily Asia and Africa via large distributors and partners.  And now going full circle back to my roots, through Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa!  Well, we haven’t exactly gotten that channel sorted yet, but we do have my cousin, a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.  Here is an excerpt from a letter from my cousin Dana:

“Nothing solar is available in the markets around me. People tell me you can get solar lights in Dakar but they are expensive and not that great. The people in my village, especially the teachers, are in love with the dlights. Everyone keeps asking when they will be able to buy them in Senegal and how much they cost? How much do you sell them for now? The teachers at my school are all ready to set up distribution points and make loads of money selling the lights. They even think they would be a big hit in Dakar because power outages are so frequent. They also want you to send a container of the lights for them to sell as a "test batch". Lots of ideas, as you can see...”

Lots of ideas, and lots of them being tested and refined, both here in India and beyond.  We’re excited to continue sharing those with you as we roll-out new sales channels, market education campaigns, and more!

TiE - a global entrepreneurs' network - has sifted through over 1,500 nominees to select 150 finalists for the TiEcon 2009's 50 "Hottest Emerging Companies" award.  D.light is honored to be among the finalists, and if you have have a chance before voting closes on May 7th, go to http://www.tie50.net/polling/ to cast your vote!

Our staff has certain favorite neighbors – our chaiwalla, who makes delicious ginger, cardamom and masala spiced chai for us several times a day; the “shack” around the corner that makes the best lunches around; and, of course, our samosa lady.  Ms. Gupta is out there first thing in the morning making puri (common breakfast food) and stays into the evening satisfying customers with her vegetarian samosas. 

Five weeks ago our product development team gave Ms. Gupta a Nova S150 – our flagship solar-powered lamp – and watched.  She immediately replaced her expensive Petromax lamp with the Nova, charging it from her stall during the day, and switching it on as evening descended.  A few things about Petromax – it’s expensive, bright (often “too bright”, shining directly in customers’ eyes), liable to spills and gives off a lot of heat – a negative in summers as temperatures rise to more than 45 degrees Celsius.  Switching to the Nova she reported a number of improvements – softer bright light, ability to hang it from the corner of her cart and get a better lighting angle to see what she was doing, and a true money saver.  She would recover the cost compared to her Petromax expenditure in just 5 months!  And free solar-powered light for years thereafter…

The last interesting tidbit is that the Nova acts as her cart’s “headlight” as she wheels it back to her home each night.  She couldn’t keep the Petromax turned on while moving the cart for fear that it would spill, but with the Nova lighting her route she feels safer and less likely to get hit along the road.

While we generally think of our products as being for the rural market, there exists a ready market with urban street vendors that we are excited to continue exploring!

Ms. Gupta cooking during the day - panel is on the wall behind her charging the Nova.

Ms. Gupta and customers under the light of the Nova.

• Fortune Magazine, “Making money with tech products for the developing world”
• Business Week, “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs”
  • Ned and I are listed among the top 25 – read through the many awesome businesses in the slide show, and if you think D.light holds the most promise, feel free to vote for us to be in the top 5!
• Business Week, “Making a Profit and a Difference”

Every morning when we walk in the office Sushila greets each of us with a cheery, “Good morning, Didi [sister]!” or “Good morning, Sir!”  Sushila brightens the office environment both literally as she tidies up the office, but more importantly with her cheerful disposition and great attitude.

Last weekend we took an office retreat to Rishikesh, a town nestled in the hills of the Himalayas, through which flows the sacred Ganges River on its way to the Indian flatlands.  We trekked, played fun team building games, were led in morning stretches by Rajendra (our head of open market sales), and went rafting.  Rafting on the Ganges in the Himalayas is gorgeous, and an activity I have fond memories of as a teenager growing up in Delhi, but hadn’t done since being back in India with D.light.  We strapped on our life jackets and helmets, and were off down the turquoise river cutting through the canyons.

This weekend reminded me how awesome our team is – everyone was adventurous, good natured, and just fun company!  But Sushila wins the prize for most gutsy.  It was her first time on a boat, and she did great plowing through the rapids with the rest of us.  But the real kicker came later, when we stopped downstream alongside a 20 foot rock that jetted out over the river.  Cliff jumping, anyone?  Shashank, one of our product designers, and I decided to go for it.  Easier said then done – after climbing up onto the cliff and peering down, that water looked veeery far away, and I paused, thinking this may have been one of the stupider ideas I’d had recently.  But my team counted down, and I joined the glacial water below.  Slowly more team members decided to take the plunge, and at one point Sushila stood up, and announced she’d do it too if Christina and Aarthi would.  Sushila doesn’t swim.  But this brave woman, mother of several teenagers who with D.light is working in her first formal job in her life, marched up to the top of the cliff, and jumped.  We swam out and pulled her to the side, and she was overcome with emotion for a moment – she said she didn’t think she’d be under water for that long, a scary feeling if you don’t swim indeed!  She told us later that it took her a lot of courage to do this, but she wanted to make the most out of this special trip, and was really proud of herself.

We at D.light have a team willing to take risks.  This is not just exhibited by the fact that our staff of all backgrounds and experiences went white water rafting, and some cliff jumping, but that they’ve chosen to take a chance working with a start-up.  They don’t know what rapid is coming up around the bend - but they do know there will patches of rough water.  They don’t know if they’ll fall out of the boat – but they do feel confident that people on this team will pull them back in.  But they do know that they will experience exhilarating moments they never anticipated – be it jumping from a cliff, or meeting rural customers whose lives have been changed with solar technology.  Congratulations, Sushila.  And thanks, Team India, for reminding me how fortunate we are to have each of you on board to take D.light’s vision closer to reality each day.

Sushila ready to start rafting!

India office team before hitting the Ganges

Check out the encouraging article in the New York Times about D.light and other organizations addressing social problems through business ventures!

I was sitting in my office sorting out salaries with our accountant when the volume of noise from our lobby got decidedly noisy.  Not the usual clanging of construction work that we’ve become accustomed to next door, but loud high-pitched voices arguing, or yelling, or…singing?  

Within minutes the din magnified itself when the doors to our office opened and a handful of very large and imposing Indian women entered, undeterred by a rattled security guard.  They wore flamboyant saris, heavy makeup and jingly bangles.  I think of this as D.light’s hazing and initiation to being a real Indian company that has made it on the “list” – our first visit by eunuchs, or “hijras”.  

Historically eunuchs served royal harems, but as royal traditions faded and society changed, so has their place in society.  There are about 1 million eunuchs in India today.  They are believed to have the power to bless and curse, but live at the fringes of society and are generally denied formal employment.  Many today make their living by performing at ceremonies, begging and prostitution.  

Today a half a dozen hijras paid our office a visit, expecting a fee for the good luck they would bring to our new office, and expecting we would pay them so that our employees could also avoid what many in India consider an embarrassing and disrupting spectacle that should be hastily dealt with (to those who don’t comply, a hijra may lift her sari and expose herself).  They hung out in the middle of our office, clapped and sang, and argued loudly with our admin about paying their fee for a good hour or two. But we don’t pay bribes, and, quite frankly, I could care less what they do.  I offered them chai, but that was not of interest to them.  At some point the police came and insisted our visitors leave, but not before making our office environment more animated than usual!

Our next unexpected visit that afternoon was from an Uttar Pradesh labor representative.  He warned me that we need separate registers for men and women.  Also, April 14th is a holiday; if anyone works, we will get fined.  

The office day ended around 7pm when an impromptu game of catch turned into a full-blown game of cricket.  Laptops and posters were moved to safety and the biz dev area was taken over by outfielders and a pitcher.  With an empty cardboard cylinder as the bat and a tennis ball, the game was on.  The athletic side of our staff was unveiled as Devendra made wild full-body pitches, Christina swung like a baseball player, and Vinod made mad dives under desk to retrieve successful hits.  Another lively Friday with D.light Team India!

Devendra pitching

Ashish at bat

The D.light Design Fellows Program connects passionate and talented professionals with one of the world's leading social enterprises. Fellows will be able to use their unique skills and experiences to contribute in a significant way to our mission of replacing kerosene lanterns with safe and bright light. We are committed to providing our fellows with a uniquely invigorating, challenging, and life-changing experience.

Fellows will be located in one of our field offices in India, China, or Tanzania for 3 to 10 months. They will be supervised by one of our senior managers and partner with our diverse team across three continents and multiple countries.

For a more detailed description of the program requirements and benefits, click here.
To download a program application, click here.

The next application deadline is February 15, 2009. We are currently recruiting for the following fellows:

New Delhi, India
Business Development (application deadline March 1, 2009)
Marketing
Product Design

Shenzhen, China
International Business Development
Marketing & Communications
Reliability & Testing
Research & Development
Supply Chain & Operations

Global
Photography Fellowship (rolling applications accepted)

Our customers are at the heart of what we do, and it’s important that the entire staff feel connected with our customers and their needs.  To help ensure this committment remains true as we grow, we have an office policy that every employee should spend at least one day a month in the field with our customers.  We have begun monthly sales trainings, and the first 1 hour is always spent going around the room and sharing customer stories from the month so we can continue to learn and be inspired. 

But the focus on the “customer” is most visible within the product design process.  Product design (PD) is at the heart of D.light Design’s activities, and the India office is lucky to be at the center of it - since not every D.light office has a PD team.  To harness the knowledge and creativity of the office, from our salesmen to administrators to business development team, PD regularly holds half-day “Pool Parties”.  Robin, our Head of PD, led the last one, getting us all jazzed brainstorming the different ways solar energy could be harnessed to make a difference in our customers lives. 

Here's a quick synopsis:...After a round of chai and an additional infusion of sugar from local doughnuts, the Pool Party kicked off.  It was time to share any ideas you had – no criticism allowed.  Ideas, pictures, words were scribbled onto pieces of paper; Kiran struggled to keep pace taping the sheets on the wall for inspiration and capture.  People built upon others’ thoughts, and got visibly energized when a brand new notion was batted back and forth.  At one point Robin paused us, told us all to go out and walk around the neighborhood to collect items that could inspire our product brainstorming. Our neighborhood in Sector 2 of Noida is interesting: street food vendors line the road directly outside our office – our chaiwallas sit under a makeshift awning across the road, between a man frying pakoras and another hawking bananas.  Behind them is a park which at lunchtime is full of men playing cricket and stray dogs checking out the scene.  But as I walked down the street, what stood out to me were the ubiquitous little square packets hanging from vendors’ stalls.  They’re packets of tobacco, and sell for 1 Rupee (about 2 cents).  I bought one.  When we reconvened in our conference room, I slapped the tobacco packet on the table: I want our lights to be as common in rural areas as these packets of tobacco.  How do we design and manufacture a solar light that is useful but even lower price than our current product range, and becomes as common in villages as those packets of tobacco? 

Unfortunately for proprietary reasons we can’t share all the brilliant ideas that came out of the pool party, but here are a few pictures to help you get a sense for a D.light Pool Party…keep your eyes out for the fruition of some of these ideas in new products in 2009! 

Pool parties in action!

The Situation:
New Keringa is a village in Southern Orissa, India, with 47 families.  All families were 100% dependent on kerosene for lighting.  Most of the villagers crush rocks all day to earn a living.  They also make plates out of banana leaves that are sold at the market.  New Keringa villagers are amongst the poorest in India, with an average monthly income of $12 USD.

The Solution:
D.light links Beyond Solar, an American non-profit, with Southern Orissa Volunteer Association (SOVA), a local NGO.

Day 1: Leave trial D.light Novas in the village for families to “touch & feel” the new technology

Day 2: Explain the benefits of solar lighting and LED technology with SOVA’s assistance
 

Picture: SOVA volunteer and Jeff from Beyond Solar explaining the light to the community.

Day 4: Sell entire stock of Novas by providing financing – villagers make a down payment with weekly installments

ENTIRE VILLAGE WAS LIT IN ONE WEEK!
Beyond Solar doubles their order with D.light

Key Results:

• 100% on-time repayment to date
• Average monthly family income has increased from $12 USD to $18 USD (50%); families are now able to work at night to earn an extra $0.20 / day
• Each family used to consume 11 liters of kerosene, spending $3/month.  The consumption of kerosene is now 0 liters!  They also save 9 hours/week on commuting
• The children are now able to study

Pictures (all courtesy Beyond Solar): Kids enjoy the bright light of the Nova; woman in home with kerosene; woman in home with D.light

Thanks, Beyond Solar (www.beyondsolar.org) and SOVA, for all your hard work in making bright solar light a reality for the entire village of New Keringa.

D.LIGHT DESIGN RECEIVES USD $6M IN SERIES A FINANCING
Indian and Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firms and Social Funds Support
Innovative Social Enterprise
New Delhi, India, November 2008 – D.light Design today announced it has secured
USD $6 million in Series A financing led by Nexus India Capital, along with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures, the Mahindra Group, and social funds Acumen Fund and Gray Matters Capital. The same team of investors provided seed funding for D.light when it was founded over a year ago with the mission to bring clean, safe, and affordable light to 1.6 billion people living without electricity. D.light aims to eradicate the kerosene lantern and provide much brighter light for millions of households in the developing world through innovative solar and LED technologies.

Earlier this year, D.light introduced several product series of AC and solar-chargeable
LED lighting products, custom-designed for the families living at the base-of-the-pyramid and surviving on just a few dollars a day. The products feature multiple brightness settings, fast-charging capabilities, and are designed to withstand the challenging environments in which D.light customers live. The products are being sold in India and Africa, with market tests ongoing throughout the world.

This funding allows the Silicon Valley social enterprise, now based in New Delhi, to continue to scale quickly to meet the worldwide demand for off-grid modern lighting. The staff team has already grown exponentially into a multi-national team of product designers, engineers, and sales personnel. In the coming months, D.light will grow its manufacturing and distribution capacity to make a lasting dent in the global problem of dangerous and polluting fuel-based lighting.

“D.light has a mission to eliminate kerosene lamps in our villages by providing high quality solar-based solutions at price points significantly below comparable products,” said Sandeep Singhal, Partner at Nexus India Capital. “The productivity improvement from their solution is huge and we are very excited to be backing a team that has the commitment and leadership to fulfill this mission.”

“We are delighted to receive the financial support of such a renowned team of investors. This is a high vote of confidence in our products and our business model,” said D.light Design CEO Sam Goldman. “We look forward to better serving the millions of households who deserve and aspire for an increasingly higher quality of life—with greater economic and educational opportunities—that modern lighting provides.”

About D.light Design
D.light Design is a lighting and power company that delivers affordable and high quality solutions to serve families living without adequate electricity. Our mission is to replace every kerosene lantern in the world to provide everyone access to a basic human need: safe and bright light. By 2017, we aim to have improved the lives of 150 million individuals.

D.light is financed by prestigious venture capital firms including Nexus India Capital,
Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures, the Mahindra Group; with
investment from leading social enterprise funds, including the Acumen Fund and Gray Matters Capital.

To learn more, please visit www.dlightdesign.com. 

For Diwali, Team India got two new employees!  Two weeks ago we welcomed Robin and Parmita to the Product Development team.  Robin is our new Head of Product Development, and joins us from the UK after years as a freelance product development consultant in early stage FMCG companies.  Outside of PD his claim to fame is being half of an internationally competitive foosball team – “Random” Robin and his partner were the scourge of the foosball table, making competitors weep with pain…and laughter.  Parmita is taking a year hiatus from her Masters in Mechanical Engineering program at Stanford. She hails from Kansas and has a fondness for polar bears and power tools.  Now with a full-fledged PD team we’re excited to get more great products developed and into the market soon!

Meanwhile, our rural marketing campaign in Western U.P. is up and running.  A van elaborately painted with d.light advertisements is weaving its way through the countryside, stopping in markets and villages for 3 demonstrations each day.  Imagine a village – quiet except for children laughing and bulls braying, a normal day with adults tending the rice fields and old men playing cards.  Then enter a colorful van, Punjabi music pouring from the speakers, and energetic salesmen in d.light t-shirts explaining how a lamp powered by the sun alone could change the routine of every evening!  The salesmen take the villagers inside a dark room, and let them see for themselves the huge difference between a d.light lamp and a kerosene lamp.  Villagers are intrigued and excited, and buy the lamps or take d.light flyers with information about the closest dealership so they can save up for their purchase.  It’s been a great way to raise awareness about our product to our target customers as we expand our dealer network in these area.

Last, but certainly not least – the week before Diwali was huge for sales!  In one week alone we got 15% of the total sales for one quarter.  Last week Team India celebrated Diwali with family and friends around the country, and have since returned raring to go.  A belated Shubh Deepavali (Happy Diwali) to all!

I love waking up in the morning and having truly no idea what the day will bring, but sensing it will be new and exciting.  That was today – my first day at d.light and third day in India.  After two years of working in the US as a management consultant, I’m thrilled to have jumped into the sometimes chaotic world of a social start-up in India.  We’re redefining lives at the base of the pyramid…and my notions of business terminology.    

“Go to work”: Normally an act that doesn’t elicit much emotional response.  But when today “going to work” consisted of riding in the back of an auto-rickshaw with my Indian and Singaporean colleagues, weaving through cows, mopeds, and other rickshaws on the packed streets of Noida, and having a monkey thrust in my face by a man at the stoplight wanting to display its tricks for some change, going to work suddenly became much more exciting.

“Marketing”:  We have an large marketing campaign coming up for Diwali, a major Indian festival known as the “Festival of Light”, where displays of lamps signify the victory of good over evil.  It’s the perfect opportunity for people to invest in a d.light lamp, and we’re going into it prepared!  In the afternoon the team scrutinized drafts of our marketing posters.  Our sales manager suggested a new photo for the main image.  Our product developer gave great feedback on the written content.  I eyed the Hindi and English scripts and asked, “Should the fonts be more similar?”  First day and I’m chiming in on the branding implications of not having English and Hindi fonts match; mind you, I do not speak or read Hindi.  I was amused at myself, and reminded that in the life of the start-up, job titles may be a formality given the myriad of activities you’ll have a hand in.

“Team building”: The female population at d.light India tripled today; tomorrow we’ll add one more.  We don’t have time or the budget for women’s retreats; instead the four of us engaged in team building with a post-work run.  9pm and we were jogging past bewildered security guards.  Aarthi led us in post-running yoga stretches.  Watch out for team d.light in Delhi’s half marathon in November!

Needless to say, it’s an exhilarating time to join this amazing team at d.light!  From discussion in weekly staff meeting and team lunch thereafter to collaborating on marketing posters and after sales policies, in less than 24 hours I’m convinced this rapidly growing team is a force to be reckoned with.  Inspired to change lives and equipped to succeed, the 25 – 26 or 27? – people of d.light are on a role.  I will be working on d.light's business development team building sales processes and expanding our partnerships with microfinance organizations, and I hope to share more days with you which end up being just as exciting as I’d hoped for.

Christina & the d.light India Ladies!  

When I arrived at business school in 2005, I didn't have a lot of business clothes. I had just spent 4 years in the Peace Corps living in a village in Benin, West Africa. Which was, to put it mildly, hot. And before that, I went to college in British Columbia, Canada, spending way more time riding mountain bikes and studying biology than attending networking events or corporate job interviews.

But at some point, probably when I was an undergrad, my mom bought me a pair of black, pleated khaki dress pants - probably from JC Penney. Somehow these pants persisted as one of my few belongings for many years, although I have no memory of wearing them. By the time I got to grad school they were not only outdated, they really didn't fit; when I put them on a gaping expanse of sock stretched from the bottom of the pant legs to the top of my shoe.

During the spring of my second year the d.light founders and I were spending time building prototypes and writing business plans, but we were also telling our story to a lot people and participating in business plan competitions. Most of the ones we entered had a social bent to them, but a good family friend forwarded me a link about a commercially oriented competition being sponsored by Silicon Valley VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Ned and I figured it wouldn't hurt to get more practice, and at the most we'd be taking a day out to compete as a longshot for a lot of cash.

Aware that the room would be full of professionals, we decided we should probably look the part. I threw on the black pants and borrowed a dress shirt from a friend.  We were up against some great competitors that day - but luck was on our side. Our passion and commitment and months and months of research culminated in the surprise of our lives: walking away from the DFJ competition with a check for $250,000.

While we had already received a lot of support and other awards to get d.light going, that first quarter million really started the ball rolling in a big way. If there was ever a tipping point in our company's history, that was the moment.

Fast foward a few months. I was subletting from a friend over the summer, and giving away all my stuff so that I could take advantage of some amazing offers from people in Palo Alto to let me crash and save on rent during those early start up days. I was sorting through my clothing and held up the black pants, preparing to lay this clearly too small garment to rest on the outgoing "donations" pile. I turned to my girlfriend, a professional consultant in matters large and small, and she hesitated.

"Those are your lucky DFJ pants, right? I don't think you should get rid of those!"

 So I didn't -- I kept them. As a token of good luck.

This week I finally found an even better option than preserving them in my closet for eternity. A friend from Delhi and d.light super-volunteer is headed to Bihar for a few weeks to help out with the flood relief there. I don't know how well it was covered in the global press, but on August 18th a river that drains Tibet and the Nepal Himalayas crashed through some man-made embankments and completely changed course, flooding thousands of acres and turning 1.5 million people into refugees. The government mishandled the situation, taking days to react. Apparently the guy in charge was on vacation, and faxed SOS messages from the engineers at the dam were piled up on his desk but no one else was empowered to act. Bihar is one of the poorest states in India to begin with.

So when the request came to donate any old clothing that could be brought to Bihar, I thought about the DFJ pants.

I hope some guy in Bihar -- who is hopefully a few inches shorter than me -- enjoys wearing some incredibly lucky pants as he tries to get his family, home, and livelihood back on track.

After traveling to West Africa in 2007, Nikhil Arora learned the critical role that light plays in quality of life. As a result, the Lighting the Way project was born. Their project aims to provide solar powered LED lanterns to rural, war-torn areas of Sierra Leone.  By introducing a model to distribute sustainable solar powered lights, the project hopes to bring light to hundreds of thousands of families in Seirra Leone. They also hope to scale to other under served regions of the world.

We here at d.light applaud what the Lighting the Way project is trying to accomplish and we are extremely supportive of their mission. I encourage everyone to go to www.voteforsolar.com to learn more about the project and vote! Please help spread the word!

On a personal level, after finishing 4 years with the Peace Corps in Benin West Africa, I traveled on a motorcycle from Benin to Senegal over 6 months.  I spent several weeks in the absolutely gorgeous, but completely decimated north of Sierra Leone with a great friend who was working for the UNDP.  The villages we visited were completely in the dark, and I have been searching since for a way to provide lights to Sierra Leone, Liberia, and other countries which wouldn't normally be our first investment choices.

Needless to say, my experience in sierra leone, which culminated several years using kerosene in my village in Benin, were the spark that created my interest in d.light.  I fully support "Lighting the Way's" ambitious efforts. Go go go.