Social Enterprise and Its Challenges: A Case Study of SELCO India

Abstract

There are billions of people in the world mostly in the developing countries who has no access to such basic things like safe drinking water, education, primary health care, electricity etc which would improve their quality of life. Public interventions either by the government or multilateral agencies are struggling to provide effective remedies as the “supply side” of resources available for such activities remained static or diminished over the years. Market mechanisms fail to deliver such services to a large section of the population as their ability to pay is limited. Therefore, the alternative could be the combination of the efficiency of the entrepreneurial market place with the welfare orientation of the state. The hallmark of a social enterprise is its ability to combine social interest with business practices to bring social change. It is a hybrid of part business and part social and operates in spaces where there is market failure and the public intervention falling short of expectations. The paper would describe the dilemma and challenges faced by a social enterprise- SELCO India. Selco India is providing solar home lights to rural households in Karnataka for nearly two decades. The company had to face numerous challenges in raising capital, designing products and getting the right manpower in its endeavour to provide electricity through solar power. The paper would try to draw lessons from the experience of SELCO.