BBC News - Social entrepreneurship takes off in China

BBC News - Social entrepreneurship takes off in China: ""We actually started out as a non-profit and in the process of working on community projects we realised that in order to reach all the people who have this need we would have to scale in a big way," she says.


One Earth will sell solar cookers to the government, which will then subsidise them for rural villagers
"And the only way to do that sustainably is by generating sustainable profits."

In China, Ms Powers estimates that about 700 million people use solid fuels that cause pollution and pollution-related deaths.

A similar number exists in India, while about 300 million burn such fuels in South East Asia.

In rural areas where villagers cannot afford the $100 to $200 price tag for each of the cookers, One Earth plans to sell directly to the Chinese government, which will then resell them at a heavily subsidised price.

The company, which will begin to sell the cookers this year, expects to break even next year. By 2016, sales are projected to top $45m."

'via Blog this'