Thank you all for supporting Solar Sister! 1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity. 70% are women and girls living in developing countries. Solar Sister invests in women entrepreneurs to empower them and to build a sustainable solar business. Your contributions support Betty, a 36 year old bubbly woman who is a primary school teacher in a small village in rural Uganda.

Her story is an inspirational one ­- she has four children to look after and the money she gets from being a primary school teacher is not enough for her to carry all the needs of her family.

Betty joined Solar Sister with the hope of earning more income to make her financially sustainable ­- she also grows cash crops on her farm to support her family. With the support, training, and initial inventory of 10 solar light bulbs from Solar Sister, Betty will earn much needed income to support her family, and establish a solar business that brings safe, clean solar light to her community.

“I want to be able to give my children a good education,” she says. “And I also want to sell more lanterns so that I can open up a kiosk and make big orders for more lanterns!”

Thank you all for supporting Betty and her community through Solar Sister.

Harriet is 47 years old and a single mother. She has six biological children and has two additional children whom she adopted after her sister passed away. In total, she has five boys and three girls.

Harriet is a full-time housekeeper — she cooks and also helps take care of the five grandchildren of her employer. According to her friends, she is a fantastic cook.

Harriet is also a Solar Sister. Solar Sisters are female entrepreneurs who sell solar power products to their communities. She uses the profits that she earns as a Solar Sister to pay the school fees of her youngest children.

Harriet dreams of building her own house someday. Thank you all for supporting Harriet and her family.

Catherine is 33 years old. She is married and has two daughters, Fortunate (3 years old) and Abigail (5 months old). Her husband is currently enrolled in an adult education course.

Catherine is a full-time teacher and a Solar Sister. Solar Sisters are female entrepreneurs who sell solar energy products to their communities. As a Solar Sister, Catherine had learned marketing and business skills. She also enjoys being a Solar Sister because it has helped her make new friends.

With the income she earns as a Solar Sister, Catherine helps to purchase school supplies for her children and also contributes to the purchase of scholastic materials for her husband’s education course. She was also able to save money and purchase a freezer so that she can make ice cream treats for her pupils.

Catherine dreams of becoming one of the best teachers in the world. She also dreams of having a nice house, a successful solar sales operation, and would like to see her children receive a good education.

Thank you all for supporting Catherine and Solar Sisters!

Lydia lives in a small village in Kapchorwa, and she is the first ever Solar Sister Entrepreneur and one of her customers who bought up 2 lanterns, a Nova and a firefly is now saving up the money and has started building an extension of her house.

Her children have money enough to go to school.

Another of her customers is using the money she has saved up to start up a canteen. A canteen is a small shop that sells basic household items in a community such as soap, salt, sugar.

This is a great impact in their lives and to see what great investments these ladies in the villages have made with the savings from money they should have used buying kerosene is simply amazing.

Lydia as an entrepreneur is incredible, she is a business woman, she owns a shop that sells many things from electronic products, household items and solar lanterns.

Her story and business acumen is one that anybody out there needs to tap into.

Eva Walusimbi is one of the Solar Sister pioneers who lives in Mityana and has done a tremendous job in her business. As a wife of a pastor and a leader herself, getting customers for her products comes easy.

She is a teacher, a pastor’s wife and an agriculturist but she loves being a Solar Sister because with the commissions she gets from selling the lanterns, she is able to get more feed for her crops.  Also there are a lot of orphaned children in the town of Mityana where she stays and she helps take care of them.

Her biggest ambition is to become more successful selling solar lanterns and expand her solar business into a phone charging business kit that will help generate a lot of income.