1st Place Winner – 2014 NextBillion Case Writing Competition.
Daniel Uphaus—founder and CEO of African Solar Rise (ASR), a German NGO providing solar energy solutions in Tanzania—is faced with the question of how to scale up his organization’s operations. Doing so requires that he address two fundamental challenges: (i) how to improve supply chain operations and last-mile distribution in underdeveloped rural Tanzania, and (ii) how to solve the financial issues faced by the company and its potential customers. Providing effective and implementable answers to those questions is vital to ASR’s development if not its very survival. Failing to expand operations above a critical scale may prevent ASR from generating badly needed revenue, in which case the organization would remain vulnerable to fluctuating donor contributions.