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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Expanding rural energy entrepreneurship and access to clean lighting in East Africa

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Description
Description
By 2016, Nuru Energy will make its portable, rechargeable LED lights available to up to 1.8 million rural households in East Africa thru an expanded network of 10,000 village-level entrepreneurs.

Implementation of the Project/Activity

As this is our core business, all of our resources are dedicated to this effort.

Nuru Energy was aslo seed-funded by the World Bank in 2008 and currently operates in East Africa and India. With an enduring commitment to solving the global problem of energy poverty, which affects over 2 billion people worldwide, Nuru Energy has developed a one-of-a-kind robust and simple-to-use off-grid recharging platform, the Nuru POWERCycle™ pedal generator. The POWERCycle™ provides reliable clean, sustainable power anytime, anywhere and is hundreds of times more efficient than current solar-based solutions at a fraction of the cost. It is used to recharge both mobile phones as well as Nuru Energy's own portable modular LED lights, which can be recharged five at a time in 20 minutes, with each light providing up to 10 days of light to a rural household. Our bottom-up approach is evident not only in every product that we develop, but also in the way that we deliver these products to market. We work with local organizations to recruit and train micro-franchise entrepreneurs, Nuru Energy Village-level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), who sell Nuru's LED lights to their community and then offer POWERCycle™ recharging services for a small fee, typically earning in 20 minutes what they previously earned in an entire day. For its efforts, Nuru Energy has been recognized as the recipient of numerous global awards, including the prestigious 2010 UNEP Sasakawa Prize and the 2010 UNDP World Business and Development Award. To learn more, please visit: <a href="www.nuruenergy.com">Nuru, Energy for Empower</a>

Partners
Nuru Energy

Goal 7

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Goal 7

7.1

By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services

7.1.1

Proportion of population with access to electricity

7.1.2

Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology

7.2

By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
7.2.1

Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption

7.3

By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
7.3.1

Energy intensity measured in terms of primary energy and GDP

7.a

By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology
7.a.1

International financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy research and development and renewable energy production, including in hybrid systems

7.b

By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and land-locked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programmes of support

7.b.1

Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)

Nuru Energy is making its portable, rechargeable light-emitting diode (LED) lights available to up to 1.8 million rural households in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. Nuru Lights help lower energy costs by up to 85 percent and reduce dependency on kerosene, an inefficient, polluting, costly and unsafe energy source.The company's unique distribution strategy is to sell its lights (and other off-grid products) indirectly to customers through a network of rural entrepreneurs. Customers bring their lights to village level entrepreneurs who recharge them with Nuru Energy's POWERCycle pedal generator, which can recharge up to five Nuru Lights at a time in 20 minutes. The company expects to expand its network of entrepreneurs to 10,000 by 2016.
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Action Network
Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All)
This initiative does not yet fulfil the SMART criteria.
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Timeline
01 January 1970 (start date)
01 January 2016 (date of completion)
Entity
N/A
SDGs
7
Geographical coverage
Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania
More information
Countries
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Contact Information

MR. Sameer Hajee , CEO

shajee@nuruenergy.com