Sameer Hajee ‘98

Sameer Hajee provides low–power electricity and lighting solutions to countries in East Africa and India where the extent of rural electrification is as low as one per cent of the country.

Sameer is the co–founder and CEO of Nuru Energy, a social enterprise whose mission is to create an affordable off–grid electricity infrastructure that serves the energy needs of base–of–pyramid consumers. Many rural populations use expensive, dangerous and unhealthy kerosene lights. Seed–funded by the World Bank in 2008, Nuru Energy provides a cheap, safe and clean lighting solution: a portable, on–demand (POD) light that lasts 37 hours after being charged for just 20 minutes on a pedal generator. Local female entrepreneurs sell the lights and recharge them so that the project is sustained by the local economy. Nuru Energy has been the recipient of numerous global awards, including the prestigious 2010 UNEP Sasakawa Prize and the 2010 UNDP World Business and Development Award.