Tackling energy poverty the Nokero way

• Author: Catherine Jewell
• Position: Communications Division, WIPO

Nokero was a 2013 winner of the Patents for Humanity competition run by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which recognizes patent owners and licensees for their efforts in addressing development challenges.

Nokero’s founder, Steve Katsaros, explains how he came to set-up the company and the role intellectual property (IP) rights play in enabling it to provide a more sustainable alternative to kerosene lamps.

What prompted you to set up Nokero?

I was practicing patent law in the United States as a US Patent Agent at Cochran Freund & Young LLC and happened to come up with the original version of the solar light bulb. At first, it was just a product idea with no particular ambition to solve energy poverty, but within four days I realized this was the solution for the 1.3 billion humans living without electricity. From that point, the entire product and business was aligned with bringing light to the furthest reaches of the globe.

Can you outline some of the negative impacts of kerosene lighting?

Where to start! To begin with, the poorest people in the world are spending around 20 percent of their income (totaling some USD30 billion per year) on kerosene for lighting – a practice that limits their ability to invest in education, agriculture and improving their dwellings. Those who burn kerosene because they do not have access to electricity are vulnerable to injury and death by fire. The risk of fire-related deaths increases by a factor of eight when using kerosene. Kids also accidentally drink kerosene, which is commonly transported and stored in discarded soft drinks bottles. The carbon emissions associated with burning kerosene have also been directly linked to climate change.

Why did you opt for the social entrepreneurship model?

When I started Nokero, I explored both the non-profit and for-profit models. After some thought, I decided the for-profit path was more aligned to my entrepreneurial beliefs. While I wasn’t familiar with terms such as “social entrepreneur”, “impact inventor” and “triple bottom line”, I knew that profit attracts scale, and bringing a safe and affordable source of light into people’s lives meant we needed to scale things up as fast as possible. So my primary goal was to create a company. Its brand was our mission – “no kerosene”. Just six days after we launched, our story was picked up by CNN’s reporter Ali Velshi and that sent us into orbit.

How is the company funded?

Nokero is funded privately...