White Paper: Rory Stear
All the 2007 Principal Voices are submitting a White Paper to the Web site explaining their views at length.
Rory Stear, co-founder of Freeplay Energy, argues that business must accept its obligation to create affordable energy alternatives for developing countries.
I've long been convinced that economic prosperity and social justice are equally vital to a healthy and wealthy society. Food security, health and education are rightly deemed priorities for global poverty reduction. Yet unless energy access for the rural poor is factored into development, society's efforts to create a better life for billions of disenfranchised people will falter and often fail.
We cannot wait for people to get connected to the grid; it will not happen in our lifetime, if ever. Off-line, we must innovate dependable energy solutions
that are eco-friendly, simple to operate and affordable to the billions of people who are the victims of energy poverty.
My vision when co-founding a renewable energy business, Freeplay Energy, in 1995, was for it to be both the best in the world and the best for the world.
I was also determined to establish a charitable foundation that would put our self-powered energy products into the hands of the poor, who often do not
have access to electricity.
The challenge is immense, and so are the market opportunities. Take cell phones, where energy is a principal barrier to growth; six million units are
sold a month in India, where less than half the country is electrified. Africa is approaching 100 million users, with only 22 percent of the continent electrified.
Self-sustaining technology provides practical alternatives to unsafe and unhealthy forms of lighting such as candles and kerosene. It can dramatically
reduce the number of trees felled for firewood.
It can also displace dependence on disposable batteries that take 50 percent more energy to build than they can ever produce, are unaffordable for most people on the planet, and invariably end their life in landfills polluting the earth.
The Freeplay Foundation aims to address the question: "How can we enable access to self-sufficient energy by those who need it the most yet can afford it
the least?' It co-creates in-country partnerships that bring energy, information and education within the reach of millions of marginalized people, and
identifies new ways that technology access might serve development needs.
Its projects, designed to generate rural energy micro-businesses, need Freeplay Energy staff for technical training and support. The engineers
and industrial designers therefore receive product performance feedback directly from rural end users.
They learn that a lighting solution suitable for the Indian market is similar yet different to that for Africa, and that Southern Sudan needs alternative radio models to Zambia. The Foundation also spearheaded funding and development of the highly successful Lifeline radio, which provides millions of children across the African continent with access to information.
Business must accept its obligation to create affordable energy alternatives for developing markets and become directly involved in the communities in
which it operates. This is not just about altruism, or about creating passive recipients of philanthropic handouts.
Positioning people with no or limited access to electricity as valued customers and engaging them in dialogue about energy needs opens the door to exciting
new business initiatives.
Users of self-powered radios, illumination products and generators know exactly what they require. They also demonstrate a talent for improvisation, born of subsisting on so little, and are inventive in suggesting improvements and innovative product applications.
Our mission is clear. Obligation and opportunity alike drive us in our continuing quest to make dependable energy available to all.
What do you think?
Stear has a great business concept. I hope they can truly provide and produce the self-sustaining energy products that can light the rural areas at the most affordable price the poor can afford.
I am quite intrigued and interested to know more about the self-powered energy products concept. I would like to ask whether wind or solar panels, in a country like Chad and the Sahelian region in Africa, would be part of that concept. Moreover, how do you promote and implement such concepts, and make them available to those who need them the most?
Not many people use their life to empower others, Stear is one of the few. Access to information and resources is one of challenges facing Africa. Until all have access to this we have a long way to sustainable development.
These are the kind of things Africa needs instead of official aid that just ends up in some person's pocket.
Rory alone is doing more for poverty alleviation than the entire G8, whose pledges don't translate to anything. Great work. Now the CDM funds and how they can be used for things like developing clean energy systems should be made clear to the people who need this energy most.
I think this is a great action taken toward the ones in need. I think Rory Stear is a great person who is doing all he can to furnish the poor with happiness. He does his bit, we should all do ours. I wish him strength to continue his quest and be successful in it. Congratulations!
