Approximately 25 million people in Brazil do not have access to electricity. Fabio Rosa, a local social entrepreneur, is aiming to fill this need through low-cost rural electrification models to improve the quality of life for the rural poor and to slow urban migration.

When Brazil privatized its electricity infrastructure in the late 1990s, Rosa, who was working with the publicly owned utilities, saw his projects come to a grinding halt. “The [private] utility companies had little experience working with low income rural markets, and saw no incentive to provide electricity to rural off-grid communities,” Yerina Mugica explains. Determined to press on and meet the needs of Brazil’s BOP, Rosa founded The Sun Shines for All program (TSSFA) that aimed to provide off-grid electricity to rural communities. Through market research TSSFA discovered that rural Brazilians spent an average of $11 per month on batteries and other nonrenewable energy sources like candles and kerosene. The organization also discovered that most rural Brazilians were not interested in buying solar panels. Armed with this knowledge, TSSFA decided that selling solar panels made little sense. Instead, it opted to rent them on a monthly basis, charging customers an initial installation fee and a monthly rental fee. Rosa’s business model, which is specifically tailored to the BOP, has been met with a wave of success. He now plans to expand his business throughout Brazil.

The social benefits of a program like TSSFA’s are enormous. Rural to urban migration has skyrocketed, with an increasing number of city dwellers seeking refuge in sprawling slums. Introducing conveniences like electricity into rural areas is the first step for slowing the flow of urban migration and alleviating the burden that migrants place on cities. And let’s not forget that solar energy is sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Read the full report (PDF format) "Distributed Solar Energy in Brazil: Fabio Rosa's Approach to Social Entrepreneurship"