Lead Kindly Light
Mandeep Singh is no stranger to social engineering; his first job was with Amul. Now, after many years, taking on the mantle of Managing Director at d.light Energy India has reintroduced the 43-year-old to his first love — connecting with the masses. As the company goes about its ambitious mission of eradicating kerosene lanterns, Singh focuses on scoring in the numbers game
The business model
d.light offers clean and affordable solar lighting options to poor families dealing with unreliable electricity supply. Singh claims that d.light’s solar lanterns are superior to kerosene lanterns. The company aims to reach people who have no or low access to grid power with well-designed, highly durable solar products, with robust and futuristic technology at affordable price points. Its business model is based on strategic alliances with likeminded organisations, which have lastmile reach and strong engagement with end consumers. d.light's alliance partners like Bharat Petroleum LPG Division, HPCL, micro-banker FINO and others use their existing infrastructure to market the former's products.
What drew him toward social enterprise?
Around 75 million households in rural India don't have access to reliable electricity supply and use kerosene as their primary source of lighting. But kerosene lamps or candles produce noxious fumes and cause eye and respiratory tract ailments. Because of this, rural residents are forced to either time their activities according to the daylight available to them or to continue the activity in the poor light from these low-quality sources. Both options curtail their productivity in the long run and are the main reasons for their prolonged poverty. With prices of crude oil escalating day-by-day, even the price of kerosene is going up and adding to the burden of a householder and government (because of high subsidy). "To address this mammoth challenge, we are trying to provide a better quality of life to people who are off-grid or have an unreliable grid. The aim is to improve 100 million lives by 2020," says Singh.
His job in one line?
As Managing Director, Singh is responsible for building a scalable and sustainable business in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
What was the immediate brainwave?
Singh says that the immediate brainwave was to focus on affordability without compromising on quality. Another element was to provide best-designed, highly durable products. "Hence, d.light created four key pillars that help us to be different: humancentric design, robust and futuristic technology, longevity and durability and with all this, affordability." Lowerincome customers can now buy a high-quality solar light at extremely for prices ranging from Rs.399 to Rs.549 and Rs.1699 per unit.
Did he consider an alternative career?
Singh's inspiration for his current work came from his tenure at Amul. He has also worked with Colgate Palmolive, Eastman Kodak, Reed, etc. "But the sheer passion of seeing the lives of people getting impacted with d.light lanterns leaves me motivated and charged enough to be part of this mission."
Does a social CEO work differently from a pure-profit CEO?
Singh feels the work of CEO remains the same, by and large. The key job is to manage business effectively and protect the interests of all s t a k e h o l d e r s . d.light is a for-profit social enterprise. But, unlike pure commercial entities, it looks at consumers also as stakeholders. He explains, "d.light earns money to sustain innovation and innovates to impact lives of people by providing them high quality affordable products. We cannot be extravagant in our spending as it has an impact on affordability. Also, while we do not have a conventional distribution model, I work towards creating innovative business models to reach our TG through our partners."
What is the difference he seeks to make?
"We seek to make a difference in the lives of people, their productivity, health, education etc. Energy or light is a basic need. We work closely with our partners to illuminate the lives of people who are deprived of light."
His moment of pride?
Singh's heart fills with pride whenever a rural customer tells him that he has a happy family today; or that his child has started studying or scored good marks in the examinations, all thanks to d.light’s lamps.
Any homegrown philosophy?
"Be process centric, self-disciplined, walk the talk and be self-motivated. To succeed, you need to be a lifelong learner. Finally, never compromise on values and ethics."
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