NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

This week’s Rising Ventures feature is about a company that has begun piloting rural energy markets at a time when the market opportunities are becoming increasingly abundant, yet unrecognized by many in the private sector.

DESI Power is a startup aiming to establish itself as a pioneer in BOP energy services for rural India. The company has built an innovative model around providing villages with cheap, biomass-based energy generators that employ local residents and supply them with a stable, predictable means to pump water and charge batteries for basic appliances.

The model for DESI Power itself is pretty fascinating, but what really struck me in researching this company was the keen business mentality of DESI’s founders that identified a strong market opportunity in rural energy at exactly the right moment.

As the compelling data in TN4B shows, India is one of the largest of a huge BOP market for energy services. The country has the highest household expenditures for energy in Asia, with 63% of that figure focused in rural areas – a formidable $102 billion a year market.
By piloting its innovative systems now, DESI Power is tapping into a highly lucrative market while providing a consistent source of power for rural Indians that the national government has been unable to serve.

The full profile of DESI is available online, it is a real, private-sector response to the untapped potential of the BOP, and well worth the read.