Schneider Makes Global Lighting Debut with LEDs in India

New Delhi: The Paris-based maker of electrical equipment, Schneider Electric SA, is looking to tap the growing Rs5,000 crore luminaire segment in India with its maiden venture into the LED (light emitting diode) lamps market. The launch by Schneider Electric India (SEI) will also mark the 174-year-old company's global entry into luminaires.

"One of the reasons why it would be launched here first is because it has been imagined, designed, engineered and produced here in India," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, president and chief executive officer, Schneider Electric, who was in Delhi for the launch.

SEI is tapping the rural market first, undeterred by the initial high cost of the product and the less-than-modest success of the category in urban markets. Branded In-Diya, it will retail at prices ranging from Rs550 to Rs4,500.

Tricoire says the first thing people want when they have access to energy is lighting. "We decided to go with disruptive innovation and to use latest available technology because at the end of the day, the ratio between the function you get and cost it represents is better than the previous solutions and we have got many people working on it. This function is new, this solution is innovative, but it's also not expensive with respect to what it brings to the people," he said.

Tricoire's argument has its sceptics.

"It's an expensive technology, especially if you want to start at the bottom of the pyramid," said S. Venkataramani, vice-president, board of administration, of the Vienna-based International Commission on Illumination and former head of Lighting Business at Philips India.

IGNIA Fund I Invests MXN$63 Million in MeXvi, Mexican Provider of Self-Construction Solutions

MONTERREY, Mexico, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- IGNIA Fund I, LP, the first impact investing fund in Latin America, announced today that it has invested MXN$63 million in Mexicana de Servicios para la Vivienda S.A.P.I. de C.V. ("MeXvi"), a leading provider of integral solutions for self-construction of low-income homes in rural and semi-urban settings.

"MeXvi provides the end user with accessible construction materials, design and technical assistance, so that the client can participate in the building of his or her own home to high quality standards under an affordable, versatile, fast and safe construction system," said Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, co-founder and Managing Partner of IGNIA.

Since its inception in 2006, MeXvi has pioneered the assisted self-construction of homes in rural and semi-urban areas in over 13 states of Mexico. MeXvi is the leading housing disaster relief agent in Mexico and has constructed approximately 4,900 homes houses via its assisted self-construction program and has collaborated in the reconstruction of many devastated communities, improving the lives of approximately 25,000 individuals. MeXvi's construction system has been certified by entities such as the ONNCCE (Organismo Nacional de Normalizacion y Certificacion de la Construccion y Edificacion, S.C.) and the Catholic University of Guayaquil, Ecuador. MeXvi has also received CONAVI's (Comision Nacional de Vivienda) National Housing Award on three different occasions.

Through its investment in MeXvi, IGNIA is partnering with Grupo Empresarial Kaluz, S.A. de C.V. ("Kaluz"), a privately held and highly respected Mexican conglomerate with its main interests in the mining, petrochemical, construction materials and financial industries.

"We are excited about IGNIA's capital investment in MeXvi. IGNIA partners' track record in microfinance and in developing successful business models to serve the BoP together with Kaluz's proven history of creating value will serve as catalysts for growth. We aim to jointly develop new sales channels for MeXvi's quality products by partnering with institutions that will provide our end customers with access to credit," said Francisco del Valle Perochena, MeXvi's Chairman of the Board.

"Families at the base of pyramid typically improve their housing through self-construction, incurring long lead times and high costs to end up with low quality homes. MeXvi provides an opportunity to dramatically alter the quality of life of these families through access to homes that improve safety, stability and health," added Michael Chu, co-founder and Managing Director of IGNIA. "We are enthusiastic about the potential for MeXvi to generate high financial returns that will make possible extraordinary social impact."

IGNIA Fund I, LP is an impact investing venture capital fund that focuses on high growth businesses in Mexico and throughout Latin America. By providing effective responses to the enormously underserved needs of the low-income population, IGNIA empowers entrepreneurship and generates social impact at the Base of the Pyramid while creating attractive financial returns for its investors. IGNIA invests approximately US$2 - $10 million per company over the life of an investment.

Schneider Electric Launches Solar LED Lighting Product In-Diya

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, Thursday launched In-Diya, an energy-efficient LED based Lighting System, to provide lighting to people living with no or unreliable electricity in India.

In-Diya is a specially designed LED based lighting system that can operate on main supply and/or solar, and provides backup ranging from 8 - 15 hours for indoor applications, said the company.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, President & CEO, Schneider Electric, said, "In-Diya earmarks a new phase for our continuing sustainable development programme BipBop. This innovative offer will play a key role in providing access to reliable lighting to 500 million people, thereby enabling them to take part in the inclusive growth story of India."

"In-Diya is an innovation by our engineers with the Indian R&D centre and we intend to take this offer to many parts of the world," he added.

In-Diya LED based Lighting System is available in nine different variants.

The basic model with 45 LEDs is available for Rs 550. It is powered by an external chargeable battery which can be rented from a battery charging station managed by a local entrepreneur.

The high-end variant is a 90 LED Solar Home Lighting System which is compatible with the electrical grid and is priced at Rs. 4500.

Bernard Golstein, Director Marketing & Alliances, Schneider Electric India, said, "In-Diya is the only available LED-based Lighting System which can fully illuminate a typical Indian rural house and provide 8 to 15 hours backup. Our unique R&D and manufacturing capabilities have been utilized to offer a high-quality product at an affordable price".

Supporting Ghana's Private Health Sector

The argument for the development of the private health sector in Africa could not have been more strongly made than at a recent international conference held in Accra under the aegis of the World Bank Group. 

Featuring diverse success stories on health care financing and insurance from Ghana, Kenya and Mali, it was perhaps the story of the exploits of the Malian Association of Rural Medical Practitioners that most caught the imagination of participants and positioned an entrepreneurial private sector as possible solutions to access to healthcare. Shortages in the numbers of health professionals have also often been aggravated by inequitable distribution. The underlying reasons were most succinctly made by Dr. Khama Rogo former President of the Kenyan Medical Association and now with the World Bank Group. 

Although acute shortages in health personnel have been observed, it is becoming increasingly indisputable that many African governments are unable or will be unable to adequately fund the huge wage bill that is anticipated should all these qualifying health professionals be employed in the public sector. The phenomenon was cited in Kenya for example where although the State could certainly do with more doctors, securing employment for all qualified doctors was increasingly becoming challenging due to budgetary limitations. As a result, some newly qualified doctors or housemen realizing the housemanship as a part of training have begun offering their services for free in order to be signed off for full certification. Similar scenarios have been reported in Nigeria. 

In Ghana, Ministry of Health estimates put the number of doctors in 2007 at 2, 026 and yet if the West African state were to achieve prevailing doctor: patient ratios of 1: 1000 in some middle income countries by 2025 by which time its population is expected to hit 32 million, it would require not less than 32, 000 doctors. Twice this number of nurses would be required also if the estimates contained in the 2006 UN World Population Prospects are anything to go by. Assuming that governments were able to fund the training of all these doctors, is it safe to also assume the state's ability to employ all these doctors? The clarion call for governments, doctors and other major stakeholders to embrace a new era of entrepreneurial driven health agenda could not therefore have been made more loudly. While this should not be seen purely as a commercialization of the health needs of the people, it should be positioned within a framework that ensures the availability of such health services to the less privileged and underserved areas and this the Malians seem to have done brilliantly.