Abstract
The main obstacle to electrification in Africa is not constructing power stations and building overhead power lines. It is working out how to help the region's households acquire sustainable energy with limited and irregular cash flows, little collateral and no access to credit. They cannot afford to pay for the huge investment needed to bring electricity to them. Even if the electricity was brought to them, most can barely afford to pay for usage. This problem can only be addressed by providing tools that bring wealth to the communities. After water, food and shelter comes the need of lighting to extend the productive hours of the day. The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Johannesburg, in collaboration with ! Ecovest, a South African upcoming small scale enterprise, developed an innovative solar home lighting solution that can be manufactured off the grid in a community based container factory. Solar lighting is significant for many without electricity and the developed solution allows the Sun to pay to eradicate expensive unsustainable on-grid energy. The container based solution empowers the community to create jobs and generate wealth while producing affordable and durable products due to reduced distribution and marketing costs. In existing and emerging markets, the gross product cost includes the costs of distribution which is well developed in existing markets but poorly developed in the emerging African market. Additionally, existing markets innovate incrementally (features of products) whilst emerging markets innovate radically (sustainable technology). Moving users from hazardous and expensive open flame solutions like candles to solar home systems, provides a more sustainable st! andard of living for off grid living.