Load shedding and electricity failure is one of Pakistan’s critical issues, and its severity is worse in the rural belt of Sindh where people generally live more than half a day without electricity. This issue has become an opportunity for Fatima Tendai, a resident of a remote village of Thatta, to start a business.
Tendai Lamps began its journey with door to door sales of S-2 Solar Lamps. The business was started with a single light which a gift was given to her in a Shell Tameer workshop where she received her entrepreneurship training. Fatima quickly identified the massive potential for solar lights as a business and became village level brand activator and retailer for the supplier EcoEnergyFinance. Now Tendai Lamps has its own network of retailers in the villages of Ismail Jahkro, Bajiro and Shah Nawaz Laghari and is expanding gradually.
Many people in these villages, travel 15-20 kms to charge their mobile telephones and pay between Rs. 1500-2000 a month for travel and battery charging fees at local shops and hotels. Seeing this, Fatima began distributing another model of lamp, with a mobile charging facility, again powered through solar energy.
The business successfully sold solar lights of PKR 300,000 in the last six month and projected sales for the next six months is worth PKR 750,000 as it expands into Sajawal and the main Thatta area.
DFT’s long-term & one-time donations are a part of the Trust’s seed capital, which will be invested to generate long-term scholarship and operational funding. The endowment currently stands at US$ 30,000, which DFT aims to grow to US$ 0.5 million.