Volunteer | SELCO Solar

Name: Christie Obiaya
Institution: MIT Sloan School of Management
Duration:August 2009
Project: Business Plan for Incubation Lab
Location: Ujjire, Karnataka

In August 2009, I had the opportunity to work with the SELCO team on developing a business plan for the recently created Incubation Lab, based in a small but beautiful village of Ujire (even googleearth couldn’t do it justice). My first reaction of the Lab was of its embodiment of the very principles that make SELCO thrive: a relentless bias toward action, strong encouragement to get one’s hands dirty (engineering works-in-progress were everywhere!), and a commitment to immersion in the communities whom SELCO seeks to serve. Those principles permeated my time at SELCO. I learned an immense amount about the challenges of innovating for the rural poor in India, from scarcity of resources to the wariness encountered during consumer research – and even, the challenges of communicating the concept of “innovation” to SELCO’s talented regional technicians who innovate every day of their lives and think nothing of it. SELCO’s purposeful growth without losing its customer-centricity was a fascinating business case to behold, and more importantly it is a true role model for social enterprises around the world seeking to alleviate the burdens of poverty.

I first learnt about SELCO through the Engineers without Borders programme in the UK. My first impression was that the SELCO ideal of being commercially viable, while providing sustainable technology to a rural population was very intriguing and this is what led me to spend my summer here at the Incubations Laboratory.

During my time at the laboratory I worked on a prototype solar cum biomass food dryer. Long term food preservation is a huge problem in this area because the heat and high humidity levels make fresh produce very susceptible to mould. Refrigeration is an option however this is expensive and coupled with a lack of or unreliable electricity, not a viable option in a rural environment. Therefore food drying was put forwards as a solution.

I started by investigating current methods of food-drying and trying to improve on them. This led to the concept of a food dryer, which can be operated all year round and in all climates using either the sun or biomass as a source of heat. I designed a prototype and a local carpenter manufactured it, using locally sourced materials. Since its delivery, I have been testing the dryer’s performance and designing an improved dryer, which should have fewer issues than the prototype and perform much better.

I hope that the work I have done will be a good stepping stone for SELCO to take the dryer forwards and bring it to a mass-market. Although a culture of drying foods does not exist in this area at the moment, I believe that if the consumers are shown the dryer and its benefits they will be won over. There is also huge potential for using the dryer for commercial purposes; a scaled-up version of the prototype could dry enough fruit that it could be packaged and sold on, thus generating extra income for families or small communities.

Name: H. Aditya Shetty
Institution: Sir. M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bangalore
Duration: April-September 2009
Project: Integrated Energy Food Cart
Location: Bangalore, Karnataka

I first came across the SELCO when I was reading an advertisement in the print media for the solar products that were being manufactured and marketed in and around Bangalore. Hence when our Professor G. Srinivas Rao, informed us about a project on ‘Integrated Energy Food Cart’ being undertaken at SELCO it came as a surprise from what I perceived to be SELCO’s profile so this did not quite add up to the idea of manufacturing food carts. But as I learnt more about SELCO and the projects that were undertaken here for by a wide range of interns from different fields aiming for a sole purpose of providing affordable technology for the underprivileged, I was honored that I made the cut to represent our University.

As soon the project began in Bangalore in month of April 2009, it became very clear as to why SELCO was venturing into this area of food cart manufacturing. I learnt that the food carts that were used all over the country had many problems and they were very crudely made for street vendors without any technical expertise. The carts had a basic problem with the tyres which would get punctured far too often in addition to problems of steering, braking and topping. Hence I started off on the project for making a cart which would solve all these problems.

My project at SELCO involved surveying of existing carts, sketching out of possible designs for the cart for different type of cart applications, manufacturing of prototypes, coordinating fabrication of prototypes and collection of feedback from end users. In a span of 6 months the team came up with 5 complete prototypes each being manufactured by local workshops, handling a different issue and each trying to solve the drawbacks observed in the previous ones.

I heartily wish that the effort put forth by the team was of great help to SELCO and will be a project that will help in every way for the future teams that will work on the same trying to eliminate all the problems that are commonly encountered. I certainly wish that the prototype made by us will hit the road and be a success story with the large vendor population hence winning laurels for SELCO and us.

I am extremely grateful to the management for providing the opportunity to work in a reputed company like SELCO. It was indeed a pleasurable experience. This project has enlightened my thought process and contributed in a great way to my personal and professional development.

SELCO gave me a unique and highly satisfying summer. You get a lot of independence to translate your ideas to action, and I think there is nothing more rewarding! I greatly cherish my stint at SELCO because of two particular reasons:

A dream of joining a company that would nurture our knowledge and experience is what one always hopes and that is what happened for me, here at SELCO. An apprehensive beginning and a pleasant journey to what would change my thinking on how and what industry requirements are for rural markets. My internship with SELCO SOLAR PVT. LTD. has broadened my way of thinking and method of approach to use my knowledge of engineering in ways that can help develop better products for the rural market.

I was given the opportunity to join the company for an internship to help design and create an integrated energy cart. The association with the company helped me to discover the market and venture into places that have the right expertise do the required jobs. The work not only enhanced my skills but taught me how to interact with people from all walks of life, rural buyers to skilled laborers. The association with SELCO has developed my capabilities and helped to improve my knowledge in ways I could never imagine.

In hopes of keeping the association warm and fruitful I would like to thank SELCO, Mrs. Indira, Principal- Sir MVIT and Mr. G. Srinivas Rao, Proffessor- Sir MVIT for giving this opportunity to join such a dedicated company.

I came to know about SELCO through one of my professors at TATA Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. I was extremely fascinated by SELCO’s commitment to serve the underserved sections of our country. I started to follow news about SELCO and this acted as a catalyst in increasing my interest to work with the organisation.

(i) "Engineering for Social Impact": Being an extremely passionate person in the social sector, the internship at SELCO Labs gave me my first real break - Engineering need based solutions for the rural community. I think when passion meets need, magic is certain!

(ii) "Learning by Doing": My lab had a strong focus in delivering rather than just designing. Much of the learnings in designing my machine came from rustic field surveys and interactions with local paddy farmers. Trust me, online literature on rural technologies is highly inadequate! Innovations, ideas and actions came from different sources - automobile workshops, hardware stores, engineering college workshops and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).