Tufts University senior Morgan Babbs is working to bridge "the last mile gap" in Nicaragua with a solar solution natives need. And she is doing it with the help of student-run venture firm Dorm Room Fund Boston, which announced Monday it's investing $20,000 into the social enterprise.
Babbs first visited Nicaragua in the summer of 2013, when she served as a green technology field associate for Global Partnerships. Her job was to implement a new solar technology program with one of the nonprofit's partners. Trying to sell products to individuals who make two dollars a day wasn't easy, however, and there were gaps in the delivery model Babbs couldn't ignore.
But she returned to Tufts with a new knowledge of the solar market. She started thinking more about marketing to the base of the pyramid, entering the D-Prize competition with the idea of using transnational bus routes to tackle the distribution challenge. She called her idea SolarRoute and won the D-Prize, her concept perfectly aligned with the contest's mission of expanding access to life-enhancing technologies in the developing world.
Babbs later went on to win $10,000 from the Davis United World College "100 Projects for Peace" contest, as well as additional funding from Tufts' Institute for Global Leadership.
With that money, Babbs returned to Nicaragua with fellow Tufts senior James Downer and partnered with Greenlight Planet, a manufacturer for the developing market, to sell their solar-powered lamps with cell charging capabilities.
"Each household in Nicaragua has a cell phone," Babbs said, noting there are 112 cell subscriptions per 100 people across the country. "The world revolves around communication and cell phones."
To be able to text or make calls, however, families need cell phone credit, their contracts typically pay-as-you-go. Cell phone providers traverse the country weekly then, selling SIM cards, phones and credit to families living in geographic and economic isolation. With the addition of SolarRoute, though, they're bringing access to electricity, as well.
SolarRoute works with existing last mile networks and integrates into their supply chain. Along with credit, providers can sell the enterprise's dual solar power lighting and cell phone charging units.
"If there are people always going the last mile in these countries," Babbs said, "why would they not bring poverty alleviating tools?"
Although to those living locally, SolarRoute might sound like just a small distribution play, Babbs reiterated how important distribution is, using Walmart and Amazon as examples. "Those are distributors," Babbs said. "We don't think about it, because when the next iPhone comes out, we go to the store, we get in line and we buy it. When you're in a developing country, you don't have access to these kinds of things."
And because of that, big-name brands like Facebook have partnered with massive open online course platforms like Cambridge-based edX to bring online education to the unconnected part of the world; families need those resources. The last mile is one several companies are trying to find solutions for, and distribution is just part of the overall problem.
Babbs currently has a staff member managing operations in Nicaragua while she finishes her last year of school. So far, SolarRoute has sold 120 products in its first two months of operation, and Babbs will return to the country post-graduation.
Explained Dorm Room Fund student investor Nate Hajian, a fellow Tufts senior, in a blog post announcing the firm's decision:
Morgan is building a meaningful business that, at its core, works to overcome the last mile distribution in emerging markets. She is creating financial, environmental and livelihood returns for households in need — and building a scalable business.
What Babbs is doing in Nicaragua, she would like to see expand to other countries in Central America where there's a demand. The focus will remain on solar, yet she could see the social enterprise offering other products outside its dual solar power lighting and cell phone charging units.
"Dorm Room Fund is humbled and proud," Hajian wrote, "to support such a worthy endeavor."
Images via Morgan Babbs
