Shenzhen Power Solutions: Energising Africa’s base of the pyramid

• Main Authors: GOH, Kenneth, XU, Jingyue, Chan, Chi Wei
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Social entrepreneurship; Base of the pyramid; Capital raising; Impact investing; Business models; Scaling entrepreneurial ventures; Asian Studies; Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/424; https://smu.sharepoint.com/sites/admin/CMP/cases/SMU-22-BATCH%20%5BPDF-Pic%5D/SMU-22-0023%20%5BSPS%5D/SMU-22-0023TN%20%5BSPS%20TN%5D.pdf?CT=1662624959427&OR=ItemsView
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Li Xia is the founder of Shenzhen Power Solution (SPS), a social enterprise established to aid people at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). Her family’s financial troubles during her childhood helped her understand the difficulties faced by the BOP consumers. She knew that BOP consumers did not have access to electricity, which restricted their ability to read and improve their standard of living. SPS provides consumers with products such as solar-powered lamps which replaced the more harmful candles and kerosene lamps. Li spent her time reducing costs and improving the quality of her products for BOP consumers, a segment that was underserved. After penetrating the African market, Li was keen on expanding the business, however, the pandemic struck adding unexpected challenges. Supply chain issues caused the business to slow dramatically. She now needs to raise working capital to keep the company running. This case may be used for graduate, postgraduate and executive education classes. By analysing the case, students should be able to gain an insider's perspective into the opportunities and constraints of impact-oriented enterprises, explore commercially viable business models for BOP customers and understand the different avenues for fundraising and the implications on growth and scaling.