Small Businesses in Northeast India are Ditching Diesel and Thriving with Solar Power
Entrepreneurs and collectives in the hills of Meghalaya, Assam, and Nagaland are trading diesel dependency and uncertainty for solar-powered possibility, and discovering what becomes possible for their lives and businesses when the power stays on.
Across Meghalaya, Assam, and Nagaland, unreliable electricity is a daily reality for small business life, forcing small enterprises to depend on costly, polluting diesel just to keep running. This short film follows the entrepreneurs and collectives taking part in clean energy pilots led by CLASP, through Efficiency for Access, and Beyond Purpose Social Ventures (BPSV), and what shifts when solar-powered solutions replace uncertainty with reliability.
Told through the voices of those living it, the film explores both the immediate difference reliable energy makes and the potential to bring that change to communities across similar contexts.
This project was implemented by CLASP, through Efficiency for Access and Beyond Purpose Social Ventures (BPSV), with support from the MacArthur Foundation, and co-funding support from IKEA Foundation and UK aid via the Transforming Energy Access platform.
Local delivery partners include Seven Sisters Development Assistance (SeSTA), YouthNet, Sauramandala Foundation, PRIME Meghalaya, and Meghalaya Basin Management Agency.