Frugal innovation concerns value-sensitive design and marketing strategies that bring sophisticated products within the reach of relatively poorer consumers. Through re-engineering, re-inventing or stripping down high-value consumer products and dramatically lowering their unit consumer price, a significantly extended range of products is made affordable for the roughly four billion consumers at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP), of whom about 500 million live in Africa.

Examples include Tata’s simplified water purifier that provides poor people with safe drinking water; Unilever’s OMO sachets that contain small amounts of detergent specifically for hand washing in cold water; Tata’s economical Nano car that was produced for the emerging Indian middle class and is sold for about US$ 2000; and low-cost solar lighting (Philips) that can be used in places with no electricity.

While these examples show their developmental potential, frugal innovations can also lead to increased environmental damage and more exploitative labourconditions if the ‘stripping down’ means undercutting existing environmental and labour standards. Moreover, when frugal innovation and the technologies and strategies it involves are fully developed in the headquarters of Western or Chinese, Indian or Brazilian companies without any interaction with local entrepreneurs, these strategies are less likely to be beneficial or successful in Africa.

In March this year SOLAR AID celebrated

one million solar lights in Africa and whilst

there is still much to do, I used this

milestone to take a moment to look back

and reflect. 13 years ago I was living in

rural Tanzania. Uhomini village was my

first experience of Africa and I lived next

door to a family of six, who lived in a very

basic, two roomed house which was

always full of children. One of those

children was a small boy called Festo,

who came to visit me every day for

months on end – you can see him

pictured with his cousin opposite. It was in

Festo’s home that I became all too

familiar with the kerosene lamp, the

dangers of burning these lights in small

houses with children around and the poor

quality of lighting they provided. Not to

mention the distance villagers had to

travel each time they needed to buy

another litre – for it wasn’t sold in the

village itself.

When I left Uhomini, Festo was a small boy of 4. As I walked away from the village it struck me that while the rest of the world was changing quickly, the kerosene lamp in his house would remain. When I returned to visit his family a few years later, it was just as I had suspected. Festo was growing up and now at school, but the kerosene lamp was still burning. I asked myself, would this be any different if I came back in another few years? What about in ten, or fifty years?

It was the answer to that question that spurred the beginnings of SolarAid, and it was an answer that I couldn’t accept. With the belief that no one should have to risk their life or drain their income to light their home at night we got to work. This belief has driven us to where we are and it is still what motivates me today. Our social enterprise SunnyMoney is building a sustainable solution to eradicating the kerosene lamp, by making solar lights available and affordable in rural communities across Africa.

It took over six years to sell our first million solar lights, but we intend to achieve the next million in just 12 months. It’s important to me that we do not let these numbers lose their meaning and I can’t help but think back and wonder: what is lighting Festo’s home today? I haven’t visited Uhomini since 2009 so I don’t know the answer, but I know there’s still work to be done, with over 110 million households living without electricity across Africa. That translates to alot of children just like Festo.

If we want to achieve our goal we need to grow, and fast. So my job over the coming years is to take our work into new countries, and next on the list is Uganda. Known as the Pearl of Africa, it is a beautiful country with plenty of sunshine ready to be harnessed into clean energy. Currently, only 4% of the rural population have access to electricity, with many families spending up to 25% of their income just to light their home.

Breaking this cycle of poverty is a huge challenge but our solar customers save $70 a year on average. Our research shows that they mostly invest this in better food, costs of education and improving their livelihoods. So it is easy to see how one little light could have a phenomenal impact on the lives of families in rural Uganda.

As I look back on my time in the village of Uhomini and wonder what Festo uses to light his homework at night, I am also looking ahead to a time when no family in Africa has to depend on kerosene. It is, afterall, the 21st century.