Dr. Boidurjo Rick Mukhopadhyay
(The author, international award-winning development and management economist, formerly a Gold Medalist in Economics at Gauhati University)
Dr B K Mukhopadhyay
(The author is a Professor of management and Economics, formerly at IIBM (RBI) Guwahati. He can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)
Traditionally, the concept of entrepreneurship has been closely aligned to that of small business management: the classical archetypal entrepreneur is often regarded as an individual who starts his or her own business, which may eventually grow into a much larger corporation. Also, entrepreneurs can also be found within existing large corporations, where they help create new business divisions, products and changes to internal operations and are known as corporate entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs.
A) Entrepreneurship in Social and Environmental Contexts
Social entrepreneurs, largely working within the non-profit sector attempt to bring about innovations to resolve community problems. Social entrepreneurs "play the role of change agents in the social sector, by adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value), recognising the relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission, engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning, acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand, and exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created". This view is consistent with Joseph Schumpeter's thoughts on entrepreneurship, which has been linked to social innovators.
In a similar context, Sustainable Entrepreneurship or 'Sustaino-preneurship' is also relevant to point out, which is "the discovery and exploitation of economic opportunities through the generation of market disequilibria that initiate the transformation of a sector towards an environmentally and socially more sustainable state".
'Renewable Energy-based Entrepreneurship' would fall under the category of 'Energy Entrepreneurs' which is within the context of 'Green Entrepreneurs'. Both these concepts albeit closely connected are however different in nature. The definition of green entrepreneurship adopted is based on the type of output produced by firms. Put simply, the term 'green entrepreneurship' will be interpreted as 'entrepreneurship' in 'green' sectors, where 'green' refers to specific types of output.
A Solar energy entrepreneur or simply"Solar Entrepreneur is someone who would do one or a combination of the following - buy, rent, borrow, sell, maintain, service, manufacture or install - any or a mix of solar energy technologies for setting up one or more income-generating energy-based enterprise/s." Examples of these technologies would include solar home lighting systems, solar lanterns, solar crop dryers, solar kilns, solar wax melters, solar cookers, solar lamps and headlamps, solar irrigation pumps, solar mobile phone chargers, solar vans, and short-haul transport mobility vans amongst many others.
B) Solar Energy-based Micro Enterprises
The penetration of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs, hereafter) in the form of Solar Home Systems (SHS, hereafter), Solar Lanterns, Solar Charging Stations amongst others in rural areas and the use of these technologies to create micro-enterprises have been largely successful in demonstrating how solar technologies could contribute to rural development. The applications and multi-faceted use of these technologies are visible in both rural and urban areas. However, a wide range of local-level applications is largely seen in rural areas where communities get involved in the process of use and expansion of these technologies by eventually perceiving that the solar energy technologies are not 'additives' or 'add-on' energy options but an 'asset'. For example, households used SHS or Solar Lanterns to start micro-enterprises from home by making and selling different homemade handicraft goods e.g., jute and silk products, idol-making and painting, etc. These micro-enterprises, particularly when managed by women, also actively engage other people from the local community.
C) Women Solar Energy-based Entrepreneurship or simply Women Solar Entrepreneurs
Rural women are found to be assembling solar accessories in village-based technology centres, solar engineers are increasingly employed in designing SHS, working in battery factories, and other accessory related businesses. Entrepreneurship of women ensures the vital component of social development, while gender equality and economic growth go side by side.
A range of motivational factors of women entrepreneurship includes primal factors such as establishing an identity, building confidence to more functional and strategic factors like establishing a creative idea, developing a risk-taking ability, striving for equal status in society while also aiming for greater freedom and mobility especially more in a rural setting. The research argues that women's participation does not mean simply increasing women members or integrating them into existing development models, rather it is a part of the process of empowerment and a way to make development policies and programmes.
In rural India, the importance of women, being the primary users of household energy for cooking and heating, in the context of energy have been widely recognised by prominent and effective renewable energy-based institutions like The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), AIWC (All India Women's Association), SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association), TIDE (Technology Informatics Design Endeavour), & SELCO (Solar Electric light company of India) and many others. One of the core objectives of these institutions has been to involve more women and transform them into energy entrepreneurs. For example, households who receive solar home lighting systems (SHS) use the technology to start micro-enterprises from home by making and selling different homemade handicraft goods e.g., jute and silk products.
Multiple cases can be found across rural societies of south Asia where microfinance organisations would offer small credit to women entrepreneurs to start renewable-based enterprises in their community (e.g., Grameen Bank and BRAC in Bangladesh offering similar credit facilities). Empirical studies exhibit that these women are found to be marketing Photo-Voltaic (PV, hereafter) systems, co-farming with their household heads using solar irrigation pumps and solar crop dryers, and also operating/running solar mobile charging systems.
D) The impact of Women Solar Entrepreneurship
Importantly, women-led solar businesses generally tend to involve other members (mostly women) from the community, distancing from a self-run and singularly managed business. This has encouraged and in fact, triggered local entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mindset (especially women, who count for 36% of the same), rural women are assembling solar accessories in village-based technology centres, solar engineers are increasingly employed in designing SHS, working in battery factories, and other accessory related businesses.
Several studies show that the benefits of women-led solar micro-enterprises have strong impacts both at personal, community and intellectual levels. Apart from having well-developed business acumen, most other women have a good sense of 'what to do with the income' and that includes sending off their kids, both boys AND girls, to school and also reinvesting the money into the business and generating other income-generating vocational activities that would continue the cycle and involve other women from the community. Another aspect that largely gets overlooked is that the chances of women leaving the village or the area of operation are smaller compared to those of men. This point becomes even more important because women entrepreneurs/solar users ensure that both A) income and the B) work involvement stays and sustains itself over time.
E) The role of Institutions in the context
The building of solar energy entrepreneurship is generally activated by a host of actors (both public and private) at the initial stage until it catches on in rural areas. As communities increasingly adopt these new technologies, the scale and operational effectiveness of solar energy technologies grow with time. In a country like India, having a dedicated energy ministry like The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is considered a big plus. However, research shows that not many energy-based enterprises based out of small localities or rural settings actually (want to) work/ partner with the MNRE due to an increasing amount of paperwork, bureaucratic hassle, and delay in operational processes. Newer forms of public-private-people partnerships, the triple helix model in particular, in supporting solar energy entrepreneurship have now been documented in India. As this particular industry and associated entrepreneurship expand in rural areas, the importance of locally sourced/indigenous energy enterprises cannot be stressed enough. To recognise and help thrive our indigenous solar energy businesses, we need more reliance on local RE manufacturers, suppliers and nested institutions over alternative cheaper RETs that are 'Made in China.
Besides their entrepreneurial initiatives with solar energy technologies, the women entrepreneurs in rural societies are not only actively engaging in complex business decision making processes but also making, servicing, marketing, installing and selling solar energy technologies. It is therefore important to understand the background enabling conditions of these entrepreneurs that creates this scenario – this is where further research is needed.