Solar Sister is an innovative social enterprise that empowers impoverished women in rural Africa through economic opportunity. With an Avon-style distribution program for solar lamps, Solar Sister combines the breakthrough potential of micro-solar lighting with a deliberately woman-centered direct sales network. Women become Solar Sister entrepreneurs, earning income to lift themselves and their families out of poverty and providing access to clean, affordable solar light to their communities.
Women and Energy Poverty: 1.6 billion people on the planet don’t have access to reliable electricity. That’s one quarter of the world’s population. 70% are women and girls living in developing countries. They rely on kerosene lanterns and candles for light. They spend hours each day collecting wood to burn for cooking and heat. They spend up to 40% of their family income on energy that is insufficient, hazardous and unhealthy.
Solar Sister provides a “business in a bag”, a complete startup business kit that includes inventory, training and marketing support. Women become their own bosses and leverage their natural networks of family, friends and neighbors to earn independent income. Creating economic opportunities for women has a multiplier effect on social and economic progress of their communities and our world. Solar light opens the door to better health, improved education and further economic and environmental benefits. Solar Sister creates critical, lasting change in the lives of the rural poor, women and girls living with the devastating effects of energy poverty in rural Africa. In doing so, it becomes a beacon of light, hope and opportunity.