D.Light Fellowship Program: DEADLINE FEB 15, 2009

Want to work on bringing light and electricity to some of the poorest people in Asia and Sub Saharan Africa?? Then join the D.Light Design Fellowship Program.

According to their website,

D.light Design (www.dlightdesign.com) is a lighting and power company that delivers affordable and high quality solutions to serve families living without adequate electricity. Our mission is to replace every kerosene lantern in the world to provide everyone access to a basic human need: safe and bright light. D.light is financed by prestigious venture capital firms including Nexus India Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures, Mahindra & Mahindra; with investment from leading social enterprise funds Acumen Fund and Gray Matters Capital. al.

D.Light is kickstarting what looks like a wonderful fellowship, HURRY application deadline is Feb 15!!

We are pleased to announce the launch of the D.light Fellows Program! The Fellows Program connects D.light with passionate and talented professionals from around the world. For terms of 3-10 months, fellows will use their unique skills and experiences to contribute in a significant way to our mission of replacing kerosene lanterns with safe and bright light.

Each fellow will be located in one of our three field offices in India, China, or Tanzania, working closely with our multi-national team across three continents and four countries. As D.light continues to expand quickly, we promise that all fellows will have an invigorating, challenging, and life-change experience!

Please visit our website to view a more detailed description of the program and how to apply. The first application deadline is February 15, 2009, so please consider applying and help us spread the word! We are currently recruiting for the following fellows:

• Business Development (India)
• International Business Development (China)
• Marketing (India)
• Marketing & Communications (China)
• Product Design (India)
• Reliability & Testing (China)
• Research & Development (China)
• Supply Chain Management (China)

BoP consumer behavior

Do the BoP spend in the same way that upper and middle classes do?? (photo courtesy: matthew winterburn)

I recently read an excellent article on BoP entrepreneurialism by Niti Bhan and Dave Tait talks about "Design for the Next Billion Customers." It highlights consumer patterns of the BoP in Sub Saharan Africa. I've been following Niti's excellent blog for sometime now, where she talks about research of the BoP with regard to the wireless market. She has extensive insight into the consumer patterns of the BoP.

A couple of years back, I did an extensive case-study analysis of two entrepreneurs in India working in the lighting sector (not published). The entrepreneurs who did well in BoP areas (regardless of whether they were BoP themselves or not) understood their customer consumption behavior well. What few people understand is that the BoP is almost exactly like the middle or upper classes in their desires, but because they have limited capital, they spend differently. Understanding their consumer behavior is key to success in the field. What I found interesting (yet probably not so surprising) is that African BoP consumers are similar to Indian BoP consumers, which means that there is greater uniformity than I had previously thought. It also means that simply by studying their behavior, they can reach and tap into larger markets easier...allowing them to be better innovators and entrepreneurs.