bold idea
Provide clean affordable energy access to the poor in rural India by partnering with financing institutions and distributing products at the village level.
organization overview
Boond creates a sustainable ecosystem for clean energy access through sales of solar systems financed by rural banks and micro finance institutions and serviced by trained local technicians. The Boond model eliminates the initial cost barrier that hinders the penetration of renewable energy products in remote poor areas and ensures that the systems last for the requisite life through reliable after sales service. Over the past two years, we have installed over 7500 systems in some of the remotest parts of India for rural businesses, micro-grids based charge stations, schools and milk diaries other than individual households.
Personal Bio
An entrepreneur turned investor who is extremely passionate about climate change and renewable energy – Rustam wears multiple hats. He manages a portfolio of cleantech investments for Canada’s leading sustainable energy funding organization (SDTC | www.sdtc.ca) while teaching at the University of British Columbia and running projects for the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP) at Johns Hopkins University. Rustam sits on the board of many companies including Boond (a company he founded in 2010 recognized as one of India’s most impactful solar companies credited to have provided electricity to over 50,000 people), Emsys Electronics (P) Ltd (a company that designs and manufactures high quality electronic products) and Mynergy Solar (P) Ltd., (a company that specializes in leasing and asset management company for solar rooftop projects) along with EnAccess (a foundation dedicated to energy innovations in Africa). Rustam has worked extensively as a consultant with the United Nations, GIZ, Indian government and other development agencies and is a senior expert with Endeva Institute (based in Berlin, Germany). He is also the Executive-in-Residence at the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator (Vancouver) where he mentors other entrepreneurs on business modelling, marketing and fundraising. Rustam has authored books on investing and social enterprise models and talks at forums and universities to motivate others to fight climate change and create innovations on the ground.
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Impact Location ?
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Organization Structure ?
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