Acumen Fund

Lighting Solutions for Families

Acumen Fund is creating access to critical services in health, water, housing and energy in East Africa.

More than 1.5 billion people in the world live without access to electricity. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals identify electricity as essential to eradicating poverty, calling for 500 million more people to be electrified by 2015.
Many households rely on kerosene lanterns and candles to meet their lighting needs, but these light sources are expensive, hazardous, polluting and produce low-quality light.

Taking advantage of the advances in light emitting diode (LED) technology, D.Light provides an economically and socially preferable alternative to kerosene lanterns, which are expensive, inefficient, dangerous, and low-quality sources of light. The company's first product series, the Nova, is an all-purpose portable LED lamp that is designed to provide brighter, safer and more affordable light for families without reliable electricity. It is both AC-rechargeable and solar-rechargeable, and can provide up to 40 hours of light on a full charge.
In addition to base lighting solutions, D.Light aims to provide energy efficient alternatives that broaden the solar space, including mobile phone charging.

By replacing a kerosene lamp with a D.Light, a consumer can expect to experience cost savings of up to $150 over five years; increased safety due to the elimination of accidental fires caused by kerosene lamps; better health due to the reduction of indoor air pollution; and increased productivity as household and livelihood enhancing activities can be performed at night.