5 QUESTIONS TO A SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEUR: BENNETT COHEN OF EMPOWER GENERATION
Bennett Cohen and Anya Cherneff
What is your product or service?
Empower Generation establishes women-led renewable energy technology (RET) sales and service centers in Base of Pyramid (BoP) markets. Through our network of entrepreneurs we increase sales for RET manufacturers, and consult on successful BoP product design and market strategy. We aim to operate at a social, environmental and economic profit by generating income and improving lives in impoverished communities.
What can you tell other entrepreneurs who want to make a difference?
Find a partner who compliments your strengths, weaknesses and areas of knowledge and experience; the probability of success is far greater when you are not working alone. Anya Cherneff is Empower Generation's co-founder. Her passion is for international development, women's empowerment and ending modern slavery. My passion is for renewable energy and sustainable business. It is our combined passions that allowed us to see the opportunity for Empower Generation. The partnership has allowed us to focus our mission, set ambitious goals, and determine a clear plan for improving and deploying renewable energy technology in BoP markets by fostering a network of women-led businesses.
What is the best advice you never got?
Believe in what you do. There are a thousand good reasons to stop when you are an entrepreneur. Stamina, and sometimes irrationality are both required to keep you going. Nobody will blame you for giving up, so you have to find the desire to keep going somewhere in yourself.
Sita Adhikari (right) explaining the benefits of a solar light to a customer in Chitwan, Nepal
What challenges are you currently facing?
Creating a business model that achieves social and environmental goals is extremely challenging. Our challenge was to design a business plan that incentivised RET companies to partner with our local entrepreneurs. Because Empower Generation serves BoP communities it is easy to think of them as our customers. However, with help, Anya and I realised that RET manufacturers were actually Empower Generation's primary customers; we increase their sales and generate valuable insights on product design and market strategy. By providing value to RET manufacturers, we have created a business model that empowers women and advances renewable energy at a profit.
Were there any obstacles you had to overcome?
As social entrepreneurship is still an emerging concept in Nepal, Anya and I have had to overcome assumptions that Empower Generation exists either to give charity or only to make money. We don't believe that giving things away for free will help women develop their communities. We also believe that working to improve the lives of the impoverished and vulnerable can be profitable. We know that that establishing local enterprise, and a system that provides significant value to everyone in the supply chain (from RET manufacturer, to local entrepreneur, to the consumer) is the only sustainable way to spur economic development, empower women and create a lasting solution to the energy crisis. Communicating that goal to organisations on the ground in Nepal continues to be a hurdle that we work to overcome. We are confident that as we scale, the concept will be readily understood.
