International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Lighting Asia/India program has been undertaking various activities since 2012 to remove market barriers for adoption of quality assured solar products, through a series of market interventions. The long-term goal of the Lighting Asia/India project is to help increase energy access in rural India. The program works with manufacturers and distributors of quality assured solar lighting appliances, to help them develop a robust footprint in underserved markets in India. Samhita Social Ventures is working with the International Finance Corporation’s Lighting Asia/India program to facilitate linkages between manufacturers and distributors of these products to reach the end beneficiary. CSR provides a new avenue to collaborate at a larger level (multi-cause) while exploring paths for new business opportunities.

The workshop aimed to explore effective collaborative models where Business can bealigned with CSR. The forum provided a platform to present various program designs that would drive socio-economic development. Central to the theme of the workshop was the aspect that access to energy is a fundamental driver for economic development.As various companies look at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) market through the lens of new products, new territories, and innovation, the sessions of the workshop discussed challenges and opportunities companies and IFC’s clients (implementation partners) face while envisioning, designing, developing and deploying solutions in the BoP segment.

In this context The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, collaborated with Samhita Social Ventures and IFC to conduct such a discussion forum. The event took place at the Bengal Chamber premises. Participants in the forum included companies like TATA Steel, ONergy Solar, Greenlight Planet, Phillips to mention a few. The Welcome address was delivered by Mr. Deb A. Mukherjee,Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Opening Address was delivered by Ms. PriyaNaik, Founder & CEO, Samhita. She emphasized on the fact that product innovation alone was not enough, it was time that Corporates figured out how to create an enabling environment for the community specifically for the rural consumer.

Ms. Anjali Garg, Energy Specialist from IFC made a presentation on “Access to Energy for Rural Communities”. She spoke on topics like- Rural energy access: Catalyzing market development, International Finance Corporation’s commitment in India, impact on community development, education, operations of public facilities, safety & security, and gender issues. She pointed out how poorly electrified a majority of rural Indian households are even today. Some of the challenges she said IFC faces is reaching out to a population as diverse as in India and catering to the diverse geographical regions in India.

This was followed by a panel discussion on the topic: Designing community development programs for rural India. Panel Members included, Mr. Deb A. Mukherjee, Director, Teknowlegion Private Limited, Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mr. Jarnail Singh, India Director, The Climate Group; Mr. Rahul Mishra, Head of Marketing, Agrico, TATA Steel;Mr.PiyushJaju ,Co-founder & CEO, Onergy andMr.GauravBhandari, Senior Global Partnerships Manager, Greenlight Planet. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Anil Misquith, Executive Director, Samhita. The need for a need based product and the importance of creating an enabling environment was discussed. The corporates shared their individual experiences. The panel discussion shed light on a number of interesting facts one of which included that the first electric bulb in India was lit in Kolkata in 1874.

Following the panel discussion, a presentation was made by Samhita on the theme - Rural energy access: Catalyzing market development, the Journey so far covering Samhita program models that enable community development in rural India. Models creating rural entrepreneurs, providing economic empowerment for women and product innovation for the BoP market along withexperiences and success stories of IFC’s implementation partners were focused on.

This was followed by the Product Showcase and Networking Opportunities for companies to outline specific project requirements with IFC, Samhita, implementation partners and other corporates to discuss opportunities for collaboration.Frontier Markets shared their story on women entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.Greenlight Planet spoke on technology and innovation to better lives. ONergy spoke on Energising rural communities by partnering with MFIs.d.light, dharma life, greenlight planet, Frontier Markets, ovSolar and ONergy shared individually their stories and their individual business models and interacted with corporates and other participants at the forum to address the questions put forth to them.