Soleil Global has distributed hundreds of solar lights to people living in energy poverty throughout Haiti. These are children at an orphanage near Port au Prince that Soleil Global donated lights to. They can now study at night and don’t have to worry about being burned by a kerosene lamps or inhaling toxic fumes.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/NIGHTLIGHTS.html

This is energy poverty. 1.3 billion people live in darkness. Donate today and help Soleil Global Light up the World!

It was a Wednesday afternoon. I was expecting an interview with Jacques and Jill. Contrasting with the lively fashion avenue in midtown Manhattan, SG had a boutique office cramped with donated computers. Who knows how great the people are in that tiny office? Well, I do. On that day, I had a great conversation with JP and Jill, and was impressed by the first prototype of their solar-powered light. To be frank, I knew the light is going to be a super-star someday, but I didn’t expect it to rapidly take off in just a few months. Personally, I believe the most important attributes to such a success are the efforts JP and Jill dedicated to SG, like their endless conference calls, as well as their hospitality and mentorship for all fellows. All funds raised, partnership built, and orders received have ignited a long-lasting passion within us.

Soleil Global Fundraiser | June 13, 2012

I have been here since March 2012, and am the first fellow on the team. My secret is: being a “pioneer fellow” exposes you to tons of work spanning nearly all the areas you can think of within an organization. In addition to normal office and program activities, I collected free newspapers on the street to pack up the donated computers, I bargained at Chinatown for huge duffle bags to bring Crocs shoes to Haiti, I participated in the process of short-film casting, I made cold calls (which used to be one of the scariest tasks for me.) I’ve always imagined how I will feel when I walk out of SG. Now, I know the true taste: sweet, fruitful, happy and one-of-a-kind.

My last day at Soleil Global.

My last day at Soleil Global ended up like this: a bottle of champagne, a collection of great friends and a great time of appreciation.

As an international graduate student at NYU, I’m 100% sure that this is the perfect way to end my first year in New York City.  With two days left until my departure for China, I’d like to thank every colleague at SG and MpowerD for such a wonderful experience! Wherever I am, I will continue lighting up the world in the SG way.

Sherry

My home for 5 months in high school.

One of the unique things about being part of the Soleil Global team has been working with such a diverse group of people. Different backgrounds, passions and experiences precede our work with Luci, and make our current efforts as a group towards a common cause all the more special. Personally, I have immersed myself in everything political since I was a kid. In my early teens, I wrote argumentative essays on policy issues. When I was 17, I moved to Washington, DC from my hometown of Sacramento, California to work in the House of Representatives for a semester. I participated in mock Congress conventions, worked on campaigns, and am now, quite fittingly, working on my degree in political science.

Campaigning in California during the 2012 Gubernatorial election.

Along that road, energy and environmental politics have always peaked my interest. To me, the most promising prospects for a better world lie in implementing technologies that harness clean and renewable energy, and I have remained invested in how political leaders in the US are approaching that task. However, contemplating the politics surrounding the latest energy and environmental proposals coming out of DC only addresses part of the issue. What gets lost in the partisan dialogue and debate is the fact that 1.3 billion people are living without access to electricity in the world today. What isn’t mentioned is that this lack of access has ramifications far beyond the basic inconvenience of not having electricity, as it negatively impacts the health, safety, educational prospects, social equity and economic standing of those living in energy poverty, in addition to the harmful effects on environmental it stimulates.

When I first heard of the Soleil Global team’s plan to rectify this problem in Haiti with Luci, I knew it was time to focus on something other than politics. Doing so has been very personally rewarding, but seeing how many lives we help change will be even better.

Katie

Sunny (left) and Natalie Relich (right) in Feixian, Shandong Province.

This is my first blog post, so I thought I would write a little bit about myself and why I am so passionate about the work Soleil Global is doing. I was always interested in environmental issues, specifically climate change, but not necessarily energy issues until I moved to China after I graduated college. I was teaching English there for a year and had the wonderful opportunity to explore this vast and rapidly changing country during that time. My most distinct memory from my travels was not the mind-blowing and eccentric buildings featured in the World Expo in Shanghai, or the Great Wall in Beijing, or the gargantuan ice sculptures in Harbin. Rather, my most memorable experience was when I visited my friend Sunny’s home in a small village in Shandong Province (Sunny was her English name). They were farmers and did not have much money. This meant that they had no running water in the house, no sanitation facilities, and could rarely afford to use their electricity. I became violently ill exposed to these unfamiliar conditions (conditions that are a way of life for the world’s poorest). It could have been the water, lack of sanitation, or perhaps eating food that had been left overnight in the sweltering heat (they had no refrigerator) that made me sick. The village largely went dark at night except for a few scant streetlights and Sunny’s family had only one main light in their home they used sometimes at night. My friend’s family is lucky in that they actually have a connection to the electrical grid even if they cannot afford to take advantage of it very often. 1.6 billion people around the world do not have that luxury.

Most of China’s 1.3 billion people have grid access, although blackouts are a regular occurrence and something I became accustomed to, making teaching and subsequently learning for my students rather difficult. I was profoundly affected by my experience in China and particularly by my visit to Sunny’s village. When I returned home, I became interested in energy access issues. I wrote a few articles for an energy blog and worked at a foundation that implements projects in the water and energy sectors. Now, I am a fellow at Soleil Global because I am deeply passionate about energy poverty and the mission of this organization.  I was able to catch a very small glimpse of what it is like to live in energy poverty; the fact that more than a billion people live in dire energy poverty and face the ramifications of this every day is unacceptable to me. This is even more intolerable when we consider that solutions are available. Luci is one such solution and why I was so excited to work at Soleil Global. This is the most compact, transportable, lightweight, and cost- effective solar powered light I have come across and truly has the power to transform people’s lives. People like my friend Sunny and her family.

Natalie

Muhammad Yunus with Luci, MpowerD solar power light, at Rio+20

My name is Raphaël and I am working at Soleil Global this summer as the Social Media and Marketing Fellow. Online Marketing is kind of my thing, so I thought creating a blog would be the best way to interact with people and share what’s going on at the Soleil Global camp. In the coming weeks, members of our team will use this platform to write about our progress and provide insight about the organization and their personal experiences.

I invite you to join us in our mission to “empower and transform communities across the world’s developing nations through innovative, renewable, and sustainable energy products and solutions” by simply sharing future blog posts with your friends and networks. Every “like”, “retweet” and comment is more than welcomed, and will help us expand our community of engaged citizens.

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and economist, said in a previous interview: “I’m encouraging young people to become social business entrepreneurs and contribute to the world, rather then just making money. Making money is no fun. Contributing to and changing the world is a lot more fun.”

Speaking on the behalf of the Soleil Global team, let me just say: “We have a lot of fun!”

Raphaël

Jacques-Philippe Piverger deals with money.

In his professional life, he’s managed billions of dollars in assets as an analyst in venture capital and deals extensively in private equity, hedge funds, and fixed income platforms.

However, in his spare time, he puts his money where his mouth is.

He works with The Global Syndicate, an organization of financial professionals and friends that connect currency to causes by planning and executing fundraising events worldwide. They collect funds from interested investors and impart them via grants to existing nonprofit organizations.

Original Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/the-haiti-project-global-syndicate-haiti-investment_n_807130.html

Haiti’s global community came out to help raise funding for the devastated country. Everyone from Gevernor Paterson to Councilman Eugene Mathieu were in attendance at this fundraiser powered by Global Syndicate. Big In New York was in the building once again. Hoodworks covers it all.