Vipula Sharma joined S3IDF-India as the Chief Financial Officer/Acting Chief Executive Officer
in April 2008. With a degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters degree in Management Studies,
Vipula has engineering, financial and management experience that will lend well to her
position. Her work in the finance sector, most recently with SBI Capital Markets Ltd. and
prior to that with IFCI Ltd. has provided her with a range of experience that will allow
her to contribute significantly to building the organization as it increases the numbers
and types of transactions in order to scale-up its Social Merchant Bank model operations
to benefit large numbers of poor households and communities.
S3IDF presents at World Bank's SDN Week
Krishna C. Rao, Chief Operating Officer, S3IDF-India presented at the
World Bank’s SDN (Sustainable Development Network) Week in February 2008 at Washington D.C.
The title of his presentation was - India Last mile Franchisee Project for Bundled Pro-poor
Electricity and other Infrastructure Service Delivery Employing S3IDF’s “Social
Merchant Bank Approach” to demonstrate pro-poor model of electricity distribution franchising
in India. This was part of a poster session for GAPFund grantees and GVEP International.
Syndicate Bank approves S3IDF’s ‘Lighting for Street Vendors’ project
Appreciating concerns involved in the provision of reliable lighting for street vendors,
Syndicate Bank approved the business model and agreed to finance these projects throughout
the state of Karnataka. The Priority Sector Credit Department of the Bank has sent a
circular to all its regional offices to consider loan applications under this project. The
Department is also considering implementing this project under various employment guarantee
schemes. Assistance will be provided to creditworthy entrepreneurs. With the assistance from
Syndicate Bank, the Hawkers’ Lighting scheme has reached a decisive stage. S3IDF will
provide assistance through technological linkages and business development services to the
entrepreneurs.
Invitation to Dr. Russell J. deLucia to present at:
A workshop ‘Sustainable Biofuels and Human Security: Critical Issues of Gender, Health,
Environment and Food’ held in May 12-13, 2008 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
(UIUC). This was an interdisciplinary effort of UIUC and the University of California at
Berkeley. Dr. deLucia’s presentation titled ‘The Need for Explicitly Pro-Poor Business Models
for Sustainable Bio-Energy Development’ dealt with sustainable bio-energy issues in
developing countries drawing on his long experience with S3IDF.
‘Asia Clean Energy Forum’ in Manila. June 3-5, 2008. This was a joint effort between
USAID's ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
and the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). Dr. deLucia’s
presentation is titled ‘S3IDF’s Social Merchant Bank Model for Financing Explicitly Pro-poor
Small-Scale Clean Energy Projects: examples and lessons and an introduction and perspectives
on PFAN’.
S3IDF partners in BESCOM Energy-Efficient Irrigation Pumpset Program
The BESCOM Energy-Efficient Irrigation Pumpset Program (BEIPP) was formally launched in 2007.
The program is targeted at mainly promoting and marketing the energy efficient Irrigation
pumpset (IP sets) among farmers and to develop a sustainable, scalable approach to substantially
increase the purchase and installation of Energy-efficient IP sets within agricultural
sector in Karnataka on market based approach. It is estimated that over 80% of the installed
IP sets are either “established local brands” or sets assembled by dealers or rewinding shops,
with the efficiency of many of these IP sets below 25%. A consortium of S3IDF, SSAEL [Sri
Shakti Alternative Energy limited] and SELCO has been made the Project agent to achieve the
program’s objectives.
Awards
On June 15th 2007 in Basel Switzerland, Dr. deLucia received one of the first World Clean Energy Awards
on behalf of S3IDF and the ‘Social Merchant Bank’ approach for its work on providing efficient
lighting services to poor households, communities, and MSMEs in south India.
The Awards honor innovative projects that move clean energy from scientific and experimental
applications, into integrated, broad-based use. Respected institutions from across the world nominated
some 70 exemplary projects in 20 countries of which 9 winners in different categories were selected.
S3IDF won the award in the NGOs and Initiatives category.
This prestigious, international award recognizes S3IDF’s accomplishments in mainstreaming the
use of renewable energy & energy conservation technologies, and is just another step in our continuing
goal of providing access to cleaner energy sources and promoting economic development.
Most importantly it is an independent, external validation of our pro-poor social merchant bank model
from both an accomplished panel of international jurors and from World Watch Institute, our nominating institution.
www.worldwatch.org/node/5210
http://www.cleanenergyawards.com/top-navigation/nominees-projects/nominee-detail/project/63
Dr. Harish H. Hande, Director, S3IDF-India was named the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 for India
and was presented the award during the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit in December 2007.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation have collaborated
with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
to select and reward the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 for India.
“Social entrepreneurs are the innovators who are able to engage business in mutually beneficial ways
that benefit both the bottom line and social or environmental issues.” Said Klaus Schwab, Founder of
the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
“A ‘Social Merchant Bank’ Approach to Poverty Alleviation” - S3IDF and its approach showcased in the October 2006 issue of “Catalyst for Human Development”, a publication of the Association for Human Development.
To read the article, please click here (pdf format)
T. L. Sankar, Director of S3IDF was conferred the 2006 "Solar Energy Society of India (SESI) Award for Life- time Achievement in Renewable Energy" at ICORE 2006 held in Hyderabad from 8th to 11th February 2006.
The Shell Foundation Breathing Space vision and Strategy Explained
S3IDF attended The Shell Foundation Workshop “The Shell Foundation Breathing Space vision and Strategy Explained” held on November 9, 2006 in Bangalore.
The workshop’s endeavour was on reducing the incidence of 'Indoor Air Pollution' (IAP) through ‘improved chulhas’, which emit less fumes and are also more fuel-efficient. In this context, Shell Foundation laid out its vision to reach five million households with improved stoves in a number of Indian states by 2010. In the workshop, Shell Foundation invited a range of entities- commercial, non-governmental and governmental- to partner in spreading the use of ‘improved chulhas’ through 'commercially-based' approach and in turn reduce IAP-related deaths.
On June 15th 2007 in Basel Switzerland, Dr. deLucia received one of the first World Clean Energy Awards
on behalf of S3IDF and the ‘Social Merchant Bank’ approach for its work on providing efficient
lighting services to poor households, communities, and MSMEs in south India.
Dr. Harish H. Hande, Director, S3IDF-India was named the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 for India
and was presented the award during the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit in December 2007.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation have collaborated
with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
to select and reward the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 for India.
T. L. Sankar, Director of S3IDF was conferred the 2006 "Solar Energy Society of India (SESI) Award for Life- time Achievement in Renewable Energy" at