We conducted our survey in South West Nigeria late last year and have completed our analysis, in conjunction with our partners Nuru Energy. Providing sustainable and clean energy solutions in the remote areas is a no-brainer. The villagers presently spend high amounts on kerosene, because they have no better, readily available options. Interestingly, there are many options but kerosene is still the winner. There is the relatively new local lamp made from Compact Discs, known as "Yar'adua" in South-West Nigeria, named after the late Nigerian President. But our survey and interactions with users show that while "Yar'adua" lamps (shown above) are very cheap, they are not durable and are battery-intensive, which would end up being expensive on the long run in addition to contributing to environmental pollution. Surprisingly, a number of people also use the flash lights on their cell phones, for lighting at night. Kerosene remains the winner, but it seems they will try whatever new product comes along in the hope that something healthier, less expensive, brighter and more available than kerosene comes along.

We are going ahead with our solution and the next phase is the commencement of a pilot with a number of micro-entrepreneurs who will among other things serve as "generators" for people in their community. Our model involves creating employment at the village level and making sure that a significant percentage of the thousands of dollars that leave each village annually to purchase fuel stays to fuel the local economy going forward. It also involves retaining some of the characteristics of the present kerosene model that make it sustainable - possibility of incremental purchases, centralized sourcing at the village level, etc. The end user does not need technical knowledge for the solution to work, the micro-entrepreneur gladly holds that expertise and is compensated for it. For the end user, the solution is plug and play. We anticipate a model that is simple and elegant.

At the moment, we consider it wiser to wait until after the Nigerian Elections to commence our pilot. In the interim, we are putting together a training package for entrepreneurs, working on establishing partnership with financial institutions with integrity and other necessary details. One of the challenges at the moment is finding a micro-finance institution that is really into micro finance in the remote areas and not merely operating in Lagos or any of the other big cities.