Annonciata Mukandekwe, a 50-year-old basket weaver… spends an hour a day pedaling a small generator that charges LED lights. In her first two weeks in business, this widow sold 140 of the $6.58 lamps to her fellow villagers. Mukandekwe earns $3.78 a day in charging fees — more than triple the daily income in rural Rwanda. Her customers get safe, clean lighting at one-tenth the cost of kerosene.

Hajee was working at the United Nations and at Freeplay Energy (seller of hand-crank radios around the world) when he got the idea to start Nuru and left to pursue the vision. The loans that Nuru lends Rwandan entrepreneurs are usually paid back in 6 months. Part of Nuru’s business model is to teach those who are selling the devices accounting in order to increase the chances that the program will be sustainable when Nuru steps back. The skills learned through working with and receiving training from Nuru can also be applied to business opportunities outside of the company. Nuru Light has not yet made a profit, but has set up 70 businesses in Rwanda that provide lighting to the equivalent of 7,000 families.

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