Erik Sauar, CEO and Chairman of Board of Brighterlite

Dr. Erik Sauar is former co-founder and CTO for 12 years in Renewable Energy Corporation (REC), and an experienced international executive, tech expert and company founder in the field of solar energy. With more than fifteen years as one of the global leaders in the solar sector, Dr. Sauar has excellent technology and sourcing network. Dr. Sauar in 1999 planned and established Solar Vision as a solar utility in South Africa based on a contract with the Ministry of Mines and Energy (after ANC won the elections). The company installed and operated more than 10,000 systems in less than 2 years based on investment support from the government for the Solar Home Systems, which at that time were 3-4 times more expensive than now.

Anders Skogen, IT Director

Mr. Anders Skogen is a senior business developer, business modeler, and IT expert from Point Carbon / Thomson Reuters who took part in the founding of Brighterlite and is now in charge of IT at Brighterlite. He has developed the cloud-based CRM system and payment integration with Telenor Easypaisa in Pakistan.

Haakon Valstad, Country Director Brighterlite Pakistan

Haakon Valstad is the Country Manager for Pakistan and responsible for all daily operations. He has extensive international experience from various managerial and business development positions related to the energy sector.

Joakim Østensen, Technology Director

Mr. Joakim Østensen is former VP of Technology at IDEX with total of 20 years of experience in embedded programming and hardware development. This includes 10 years as Project Manager for similar developments at Datarespons. Mr. Østensen has developed the payment solution and customer interface in the Brighterlite systems.

What problem are we trying to solve? Who has this problem?

The main challenge that Brighterlite is addressing is to secure energy access to rural off-grid Pakistan. It is estimated that as many as 50 million people are living without access to electricity in Pakistan today (IFC). Brighterlite Pakistan serves low/medium-income households as well as small businesses (SMEs) in rural, off-grid areas of Pakistan with SHS systems on a Fee for Service and Lease to Own basis. A typical household has 6 members, and uses kerosene, candles, batteries, torches, open fire, low-quality solar products, and/or diesel generators for lighting and electricity prior to becoming a Brighterlite customer. The typical small business currently served by Brighterlite are small grocery shops/kiosks, butchers, tailors, and local tea/small restaurant shops just to mention a few. Brighterlite customers pay a sign-up fee plus a regular (monthly or weekly) subscription fee, all paid via mobile phone. For the most basic subscription, customers pay about US$ 15 (signup) and US$ 5 (monthly). In the event of missing payments, the customer's system will be shut down by the built-in timer, and the customer will only receive a new code (via SMS) to re-open the system after he has settled his account via mobile payment. Partly in contrast to official statistics, Brighterlite's experience from over 2 years of operation and the installation of ~5000 solar home systems in Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan is that mobile coverage is lacking or unstable in substantial parts of Pakistan's off-grid areas. Brighterlite's sales of solar electricity to off-grid households and small businesses system uniquely allows for this situation, as Brighterlite SHS systems are activated by codes sent to customers by SMS after pre-payment. Hence, the location of the SHH system itself is GSM- independent. It is sufficient that there is GSM coverage nearby. Some of our customers make their own mobile payments from their phones. However, the majority of mobile payment users in Pakistan are used to bringing cash to a mobile money retailer. Our retailers' and franchisees' employees, therefore, acquire their own mobile wallets or become Easypaisa retailers (signing up with Telenor after a recommendation from us). They collect cash payments from customers in their vicinity or up to 2 hours outside mobile coverage; transfer the collected amounts to Brighterlite's account, and deliver codes back to the customers.

Value Proposition

Brighterlite SHS packages today include access to lighting, mobile phone charging, fan, radio, and TV. Several world-class institutions and companies have contributed to the development of our current product portfolio, which has a clear focus on durable, low-cost, and energy-efficient solutions in order to minimize the total life cycle cost for our customers and offer the lowest prices possible. Brighterlite customers pay a sign-up fee plus a regular (monthly or weekly) subscription fee, all paid via mobile phone. For the most basic subscription, customers pay about US$ 15 (signup) and US$ 5 (monthly). For the largest subscriptions, prices are roughly double. In the event of missing payments, the customer's system will be shut down by the built-in timer, and the customer will only receive a new code (via SMS) to re-open the system after he has settled his account via mobile payment. Our customer contracts are running until they are terminated by either party. When a contract is terminated, we dismount the system, refurbish it and install it again.

• Provides modern energy access to 50,000 households.

• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 0 Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide per year.

• Brighterlite operates with a retailer model that gives economic benefits of the SHS system immediately and directly back to the local employees and communities in which we operate.

• Creates 500 new jobs during the lifetime of the project.

• Improves the health conditions of 300,000 people.

• Out of the total number of beneficiaries of the project, 150,000 are women.

• Established by Rec-founder Erik Sauar and others from the earlier analysis firm Point Carbon.

• Selling subscriptions power from mini-solar panels to a few dollars per month in developing countries.

• The founders own 66 percent through Differ. Investor Christian Mustown ten percent.CEO Stein Eitrheim has eight percent, while German solar specialist owns six percent.

• Shareholders have so far invested a scant 20 million kroner.

• Supported by Innovation Norway, SkatteFUNN, and Norad. Brighterlite has also a loan commitment from the Export Credit guaranteed by GIEK.

The former ownership of Brighterlite Pakistan had a lack of local knowledge of the local market and their first years of operations were more of a learning experience than fully utilizing the capabilities of the product in the areas that people needed the technology the most.

Smart Park saw the potential with our local knowledge to implement the products in the right geographical locations and therefore proceeded to acquire the whole company in February 2020. When we acquired Brighterlite Pakistan we also bought the manufacturing rights of a patented innovative solution (i.e. the equipment and three systems) to produce and bring electricity to rural areas. With this, we can use any operator including Telenor because we have our own software including a pay-go system. Our pay-go system provides us with a competitive advantage due to the ease of use for the consumer.

Smart Park acquired Brighterlite because it saw the potential for a greater effective implementation and that’s why Smart Park decided to acquire the company to become more hands-on and take part in the daily operations. The former owners of Brighterlite had the vision to operate and provide products to multiple countries across the globe simultaneously because they are registered with the majority of the international donor agencies including the World Bank and the Asian bank. Our long-term plan is to establish an R&D facility at the solar PV module manufacturing plant to keep our competitive edge on our competitors by utilizing and getting the best out of local Pakistani talent.

Due to COVID-19, the opportunity to implement the steps of our initial pre-COVID-19 business plan has been delayed until 2022. Smart Park continues to identify the opportunity to up-scale the Brighterlite acquisition and become more hands-on.

Smart Park (SMC-PVT) Ltd. is founded by Raja Nasir Hussain whom is an international business man with 30 years of experience from Norway and is currently working within the energy sector. Raja was the former Honorary Investment Councillor for the Pakistani Embassy in Norway where he has successfully brought businesses to and from the respective countries. In the past he has worked with companies such as Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPKO), Cengiz Enerji, Aksa Enerji, Telenor, ZTE, AirBaltic, NorConsult, Norwegian Airline, Statoil and PTV, among others. With his team of experts, they have a combined experience that can help them build Smart Park (SMC-PVT) Ltd to favorably compete with other leading solar PV module manufacturing plants in Pakistan and all around the globe