Solar Sister
Model & Strategy
Solar Sister is a green energy revolution powered by women’s enterprise. Providing a grassroots solution to a global energy crisis, Solar Sister combines the breakthrough potential of clean energy technology with a deliberately women-centered direct sales network. Working in rural Africa, Solar Sister recruits, trains and supports women to become Solar Sister Entrepreneurs. The women build sustainable businesses selling solar lamps, mobile phone chargers and fuel efficient cook stoves. Using their natural networks of family, friends and neighbors to provide the most effective distribution channel to rural and hard to reach customers the women earn much needed income to support their families and provide a vital service to their communities. Access to clean energy and simple light has profound benefits including improved education, health and economic outcomes.
Katherine Lucey, founder and CEO of Solar Sister, brings 20 years investment banking and non-profit leadership experience to her role as social entrepreneur. She is an Ashoka East Africa Fellow and a winner of Social Venture Network 2011 Innovation Award and a Global Social Benefit Incubator Fellow for 2011 at the Santa Clara University Center for Science and Technology. Katherine currently serves on the UN Foundation initiative the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and is a co-chair of the Supply Chain and Entrepreneurship Committee of the Sustainable Energy for All Practitioner Network.
IMPACT
Solar Sister has built a network of more than 4,500 women entrepreneurs who earn income while bringing access to clean energy technologies to more than 1.5M people in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In the long term, Solar Sister provides livelihoods and energy access in rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa – breaking the cycle of poverty by creating economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs and access to energy for the women, their families, and their off-grid communities.
Solar Sister News
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Working with @DataDotOrg & @fraym_io we are able to put #DataScience and #data in the hands of #womenentrepreneurs… https://t.co/TejoCWTQNJ
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RT @TaroWorksApp: On International Day of Rural Women we recognize the work of our clients @Solar_Sister (https://t.co/WPWCqKkg48) @Fonkoz…
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RT @KatherineHLucey: Listen up! @Olasimbo and I are on a podcast together! We discuss the economic, environmental, & social effects of @Sol…
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🎆Listen In! Solar Sister is featured on today's Feast Over Famine's Podcast! @KatherineHLucey @Olasimbo "pursuing r… https://t.co/WE7tuuOmBJ
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Let's keep the #energy going for #DayoftheGirlChild With renewable energy sources girls can study longer, improve… https://t.co/ZmsoJXDFLg
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Solar Sister Entrepreneur's Fatma Mziray's daughters, Nasma and Sabrina will have a better life growing up with sol… https://t.co/Oj06qpNSrI
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➡️Hello Solar Sister friends, we have been nominated for an award.🎆😃 Please vote and share with friends & families… https://t.co/nSlosUmXZn
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Solar Sister entrepreneurs create a ripple effect impacting local women, their families, and the customers and comm… https://t.co/vW2Ezh4a2k
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RT @Sunrise_Kat: “Here in the village, it is the cheapest way to have constant lighting for the entire night without worrying about the cos…
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Running her own business and increasing her income was an essential step for @Solar_Sister entrepreneur Angelina.… https://t.co/7Exucpr73H
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RT @missingperspec: In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 600 million people do not have access to #electricity - and it is #women who bear the…
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RT @Solar_Sister: @PalmettoEnergy and Solar Sister believe that everyone should have access to #cleanenergy no matter where they live. Par…
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RT @vplutshack: I wrote something! If you’re interested in how #energyaccess (and #energy in general) can help #women and give them opportu…
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This is a pivotal moment in #ClimateAction. The @DataDotOrg webinar discusses actionable insights from work on the… https://t.co/RU91UGr3wi
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Our expanded partnership with @PalmettoEnergy will bring affordable light and big smiles to more people in sub-Saha… https://t.co/hqGLDJZss0
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RT @KatherineHLucey: Yes indeed! @Solar_Sister is proof that investing in #Women makes an immediate difference in the life of the woman ent…
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RT @KatherineHLucey: Love to see the good work being done in Senegal! Shout out to @ellesolaire our sister in last-mile energy access https…