Business Plan for Solar Home Systems in Africa

Running head: BUSINESS PLAN 1
Social Venture Idea for installing Solar Home Systems in Africa

BUSINESS PLAN 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Problem to be solved.......................................................................................................................3
Solution............................................................................................................................................4
Target Market..................................................................................................................................5
Business Model................................................................................................................................6
Theory of Change............................................................................................................................7
The resources...............................................................................................................................7
Activities......................................................................................................................................7
The output....................................................................................................................................7
Short term benefits.......................................................................................................................7
The impact...................................................................................................................................8
Financial and Resources Analysis...................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

BUSINESS PLAN 3
Introduction
As opined by Khan & Arsalan (2016), Solar energy is the most natural available source
of energy. Being the most inexhaustible renewable energy, it has always been non-polluting in
nature. The world has heavily relied on the traditional energy resources which are getting
exhausted day by day. Human beings rely on sun heavily due to which multiple methods and
energy conservation devices and systems have been made. Such systems are readily available in
the market and used in almost every sector known. As identified by Zhou, et. al. (2016), the most
common energy conservation systems are solar, water heaters and solar panels which might be
initially higher than the conventional water heaters and solar panels, but are safe and
environmental friendly. Africa is the largest generator of carbon dioxide anywhere else in the
world effect of global warming will be higher in Africa. However, as opined by Frynas, Wood &
Hinks (2017), the availability of solar power in Africa is in abundance but the advent of new
projects will help the country to utilize this powerful source of energy. The market for solar
energy in Africa is still small but holds great potential. The social venture idea proposed will be
to setup solar home systems to low income earners in South Africa. The idea is to making high
quality and solar that is readily accessible by anyone. As suggested by Quaschning (2019),
people will be able to replace traditional kerosene lamps with solar lights at affordable prices.
The major investors would be the government of Africa, companies with established solar power
grids, and the community.
Problem to be solved
Solar energy can be one of the most fastest, effective and cheapest way to light up Africa.
There are thousands of remote villages in Africa that are spread apart which would take a big
amount of investment to light the entire continent. Therefore the problem identified is
unavailability of electricity in small towns and villages which are often not considered as priority
by their government. As suggested by Yescombe (2018), due to lack of investment and
commitment from the government, the country suffers from connectivity to the power grid. The
country requires solar energy to satisfy all the requirements since Africa has abundance of sun,
wind and water. The demand for alternative power sources is getting higher due to increasing
rate of population and energy consumption. Therefore the problem to be solved is bringing

BUSINESS PLAN 4
alternative power sources by use of solar technology which will be catering to the energy
consumption needs of Africans.
Solution
As identified by Castellano, Kendall, Nikomarov & Swemmer (2015), the solar power
market is relatively new in Africa and the reachability to every part of the continent still a major
task. Being a new market, Africa provides an early advantage to marketers and entrepreneurs to
establish their ventures in the country. The installation of solar equipment requires capital
investment but the availability of investors is quite less in Africa (Aanesen, Heck & Pinner,
2017). However, the plan will focus on making solar home systems mostly for the low income
earners in the rural and remote areas of Africa. Looking at the affordability quotient, people can
pay the installment amount over the course of a year through any mobile payment. The idea is to
replace the traditional kerosene lamps with low costing solar home systems such as solar lamps
and lights, and mobile phone charging stations. Africa has been under immense energy crisis
from a prolonged period of time with close to 625 million people without any source of energy.
Ironically, the abundance of renewable natural resources is not suffice for the entire continent.
The use of renewable energy will be helpful production of poverty and improve economic
growth.
As suggested by Oji, Soumonni & Ojah (2016), the African continent requires major
revamping of its rural areas by use of small scale solar, geothermal and wind energy plants to
provide energy. The intention of the solution to be provided is bridging the gap of transporting
electricity from large scale power plants which becomes expensive to procure. In order to
alleviate the problems faced by people in remote areas, the solar home system can be an ideal
system to provide renewable energy at an affordable price. The combination of technology and
business skills has created bigger and wider opportunities for the companies to innovate and
provide solution to the energy challenge of the continent. The problem can be solved by not
relying on large and centralized networks for getting the help with regards to solar power energy.
But the use of decentralized cost effective solutions will be able to reach maximum households
to cater to their needs of any source of energy in houses. Baldwin & Raffler (2017) have
identified that the government interventions seem to be ineffective to provide basic services to
the African citizens, it shows that the issues generally start at the grass root levels. The current