With Solar Fridges & Dryers, 4700 Rural Women Are Turning Small Shops Into Strong Livelihoods

“Earlier, we never had a cooling unit in our shop because of the high electricity bill,” recalls Patel Mahinur Riyaz, a 27-year-old shopkeeper, teacher, and farmer from Shidolwadi village in Maharashtra’s Latur district. “Power cuts were frequent, and I often had to throw away perishable goods. We simply could not afford the losses.”

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Her small kirana (grocery) store, tucked away in the dusty lanes of Nilanga taluka, once survived on modest daily sales. Electricity, when it came, was unreliable. Perishables spoiled overnight. Customers travelled to nearby towns to buy cold drinks, milk, or chilled water. For women like Mahinur, whose livelihoods rely on narrow margins, unreliable power created daily setbacks and long-term limits.

Across India’s rural landscape, thousands of women face the same challenge. In regions where the grid flickers in and out and energy costs eat into slender profits, decentralised renewable energy, or DRE, has started to shift this reality.

This shift forms part of the ‘Powering Livelihoods’ initiative, a collaborative effort by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and Villgro. The programme works to expand DRE solutions that support rural livelihoods and strengthen local economies. Beyond lighting homes, these technologies now power small shops, farm tools, cooling units, and food-processing machines in villages across India.

The result is more income stability, reduced losses, and a renewed sense of agency for women like Mahinur.

Where innovation meets rural livelihoods

Villgro is one of India’s earliest social enterprise incubators. Founded nearly 25 years ago as a natural extension of Professor Anil Gupta’s National Innovation Foundation, it was built on the belief that innovation can emerge from anywhere, especially from the grassroots.

“We wanted to see whether innovation can solve India’s most complex development problems,” says Srinivas Ramanujam, Chief Executive Officer of Villgro, to The Better India. “For us, success lies not only in scaling enterprises but also in establishing that communities that have been marginalised, like smallholder farmers, the urban poor, and particularly women, find dignity and opportunity through enterprise.”

When Villgro turned its attention to energy in 2019, the focus was on what energy could do for rural livelihoods. “People often think energy is about lighting a bulb or charging a phone. We asked ourselves, can energy help someone earn more? Can it make a livelihood more productive? That is where decentralised renewable energy comes to play,” he explains.

This approach led Villgro to support a range of DRE technologies, including solar dryers, cold storage units, silk-reeling machines, energy-efficient food processors, and battery-operated farm tools. These machines operate independently of the central grid and are designed for rural use.

“Every DRE machine we support either reduces the cost of power or increases productivity,” Ramanujam says. “That combination makes it radical for small businesses.”

How simple tools create big earnings

Across sectors, the impact of DRE technologies has been increasingly visible.
ReshamSutra, an enterprise supported under Villgro’s Powering Livelihoods initiative, produces solar silk-reeling machines that allow women artisans to produce between 150 and 250 grams of yarn per day, compared with about 50 grams using manual equipment. This leads to significant increases in output and reduces dependence on erratic electricity supply.

In post-harvest agriculture, farmers using DRE-powered solar dryers and cold storage units can dry, store, and process produce for longer, sell at better prices, and reduce wastage.

Sabjikothi, another innovation under the programme, enables small farmers and street vendors to preserve fruits and vegetables without refrigeration. “Vendors can sell their stock the next day at the same price,” Ramanujam says.

According to Villgro, the payback period for these machines ranges from three months to two years, depending on the enterprise. “With the right financial support, the income increase from these machines more than covers the cost of repayment,” he adds.

How ‘sakhis’ are turning power into opportunity

One of the most significant aspects of the DRE transition is the impact it has had on women. Those who have long managed unpaid labour and limited income opportunities are now becoming owners, operators, and entrepreneurs through clean energy technologies.

Villgro’s partnership with Sakhi Unique Resource Enterprise (SURE), a women-led social enterprise, has contributed to this shift. Established in 2024, SURE works across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar to empower women as “sakhis”, or micro-entrepreneurs who promote and sell sustainable products in their communities.

“SURE is one of our strongest partners. They are not just distributing products; they are building entrepreneurs. And when women talk to women about business, the impact is much deeper and faster,” says Ramanujam.

SURE has created a network of over 2,000 sakhis who reach 500 villages with clean energy and eco-friendly solutions such as solar dryers, cookstoves, and organic agri-inputs. By 2030, the organisation aims to train 5,000 women entrepreneurs and impact half a million households.

It was during a SURE trade activity in June 2025 that Mahinur first learnt about DRE. “Sakhi Bismilla Shaikh and our supervisor, Anjana Sable, explained the technology and how it could help my business,” she recalls. “I attended because I wanted to see if it could reduce electricity bills and improve my shop. Within two months, I had a solar refrigerator installed.”

After receiving training on how to use and maintain the equipment, she saw the change almost immediately. “I started selling cold drinks, milk, and dairy products,” she says. “I earn about Rs 1,000 more each month personally, and the shop’s sales have increased by Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000. More people come to my store now, and it has become the main shop in the village.”

Her experience marks a wider shift where technology and entrepreneurship intersect. “Running the store with this new technology has made me more confident. I take part in decisions, manage finances, and feel respected in my family and community,” she says.

A partnership bringing clean energy to villages

The impact of SURE and Villgro’s enterprises has grown through their collaboration with CEEW under the Powering Livelihoods initiative.

“Powering Livelihoods is a joint initiative that brings together our strengths,” explains Divya Gaur, programme lead at CEEW. “Villgro focuses on enterprise acceleration and market building, while CEEW generates evidence, drives policy engagement, and mobilises ecosystem support.”

CEEW’s research highlights the scale of this impact. “About 87% of users reported an increase in income, 71% saw higher productivity, nearly half gained more working days, and 46% reduced input costs.”

Women form a large share of these users. “We found that 62% were women. Around 86% experienced greater decision-making power, and 91% gained new technical or business skills,” Gaur notes.

Technologies supported through Powering Livelihoods have collectively impacted 12,700 livelihoods, including 4,700 women, and have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 22,500 tonnes each year.

“A single biomass-powered cold storage unit can avert up to 94 tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually by preventing spoilage of fruits and vegetables,” she adds.

Making clean energy affordable for villages

“For most rural users, access to affordable credit is the make-or-break factor,” says Ramanujam. “Traditional financial institutions are still unfamiliar with productive-use energy technologies, and their risk perception remains high.”

To ease this challenge, Villgro has partnered with Samunnati and NABARD to help SHGs and FPOs prepare documentation correctly so that their applications are not rejected.

Villgro also uses tools such as first-loss guarantees to reduce lender risk. “By providing guarantees or small grants to subsidise interest rates, we make financial institutions more comfortable lending in this space,” Ramanujam explains.

“Affordable, blended finance models such as interest subventions or pay-as-you-go schemes are essential for scaling these technologies,” Gaur says. “Financiers need to see evidence that these are viable businesses, not charity cases.”

Helping users long after the purchase

For Villgro, success is not measured only in the number of machines sold but in how they continue to work for the people who use them. “It is not enough that the equipment is purchased,” says the CEO. “We monitor whether it is being used, whether the user is earning from it, and whether they are repaying their loans on time.”

Villgro conducts local activations, attends large farmer events, and trains champions who can help users troubleshoot issues. “Our startups also provide after-sales service and technical support,” Ramanujam says.

“Service infrastructure is limited, seasonal demand affects usage, and financing for women-led enterprises remains a challenge,” he adds. “But with every district we reach, awareness grows, confidence grows, and adoption becomes easier.”

A renewable future, led by women

Looking ahead, both Villgro and CEEW see an India where decentralised renewable energy plays a central role in rural livelihoods. Villgro is especially hopeful about DRE’s potential in post-harvest processing and storage, as well as in urban livelihoods like hawking and food vending.

“Hawkers serve other poor people, yet they are among the most neglected groups in our cities,” says Ramanujam. “If micro-cold storage or mobile DRE solutions can support their work, we can extend the clean energy revolution from villages to towns.”

Back in Shidolwadi, Mahinur feels proud of the change unfolding around her. “People trust me more, and I feel proud that I am contributing to something bigger,” she says.

For Villgro, CEEW, and SURE, the work continues. With every solar panel installed and every livelihood strengthened, India moves closer to a future powered by clean energy and led by women who are shaping their communities with confidence.

All pictures courtesy Villgro and CEEW