Shell Foundation’s recent elucidation of its approach to development challenges by building scalable and sustainable enterprises argued that that such enterprises could be built only after investing in core capacity and systems. Equally, such enterprises required more than grant finance to become sustainable: They needed business advice, market access and governance support.
While this basic approach has been tested out in many parts of the world, as outlined in the “Enterprise Solutions to Scale Report”, the touchstone for Shell Foundation could well be its activities in India where new business models were tried out, a slew of programs underwent gestation and where the Foundation had both a fertile entrepreneurial context and a complex matrix of economic challenges.
On the occasion of a Round Table on “Maximizing Impact through Enterprise Development Solutions”, Shell Foundation released the Country study on the Scale Report, titled “Shell Foundation in India: From Traditional Philanthropy to ‘enterprise-based' solutions".
India has been the single largest country recipient of Shell Foundation investment to date. Says the report, “The country presents a sea of opportunities fueled by the same size and dynamism that make its development journey complex. What has been referred to as ‘India’s urban awakening’ and the growth of India’s rural consumer market are just two examples: recent figures suggest that there will be 700 million new residents in Indian cities by 2050. Such trends present both challenges and opportunities to our own partners in India.”
The country report makes the point that the success that Shell Foundation has had in building scalable partnerships has resulted in creating new business models and a new approach to the Indian development challenges.
One such partner profiled in the report is Envirofit India which is addressing the greatest energy poverty issue that challenges India: inefficient stoves in poorly ventilated homes that lead to premature deaths of over 500,000 women and children in India. Shell Foundation has worked with Envirofit to develop a viable business model and establish distribution and sales networks for a durable clean cookstove.
In 2011, Envirofit will complete the registration of its Voluntary Carbon Programme developed in conjunction with Eco-Securities, making it the first stoves carbon programme of its kind in India. This development will enable Envirofit to reduce the consumer price or reinvest funds in addressing some of the key market barriers by building local assembly and manufacturing capacity.
