In 2004, the Dutch electronics company Philips decided to target the emerging middle class consumers in developing countries as well as consumers belonging to the bottom of the pyramid, and created solutions to improve their quality of life after dark. Several product concepts were developed, and two new lighting products were produced and sold. Their quality was lower than lighting products sold in developed countries in order to minimise costs, but sufficient to provide lighting to rural areas in developing countries.

The SMILE (Sustainable Model In Lighting Everywhere) project was initiated to examine the potential of developing new lighting solutions for rural communities in developing countries. Philips is using new business models in order to reach out to customers in rural areas. They include partnering up with local NGOs to distribute and sell their products, as well as using women’s self help groups for door to door sales.

The core of the SMILE Project consists of two lighting solutions:

1) Kiran, a hand-cranked flashlight which uses long-lasting light emitting diodes (LEDs), is aimed at users with no access to electricity.

2) Uday, a rechargeable portable lantern, is aimed at middle-class users with erratic power supplies.

During the 3 months that the commercial pilot project lasted, several hundred families were involved, buying more that a total of 400 lamps. In 2008, Philips launched the SMILE Project in Ghana in collaboration with the Dutch government, international development organization World Vision and local Ghanaian NGOs. The goal for this SMILE collaboration is to make sure that 10 million people in 14 Sub-Sahara African countries have access to renewable energy lighting solutions by 2015.

Source: Social Action, 2009

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