The majority of the Cameroonians living in rural areas rely on outdated lighting technologies such as kerosene lamps, candles or battery-powered torches. Despite the negative impacts on the health and the environment, these lighting sources are relatively expensive and, thus, should be replaced.
Market-based approaches to fight poverty or solve any problem from the field of education, health, technology access or environment have become quite common recently. The present thesis deals with the base of the pyramid approach (BOP) by C.K. Prahalad as well as the social business idea by Muhammad Yunus.
The thesis in particular focuses on the social solar enterprise Cameroon Solar Solutions (C.S.S.) which aims to replace low-technology lighting sources with solar energy. However, the business environment in rural Cameroon is highly complex and, thus, it is challenging to operate successfully in this market. The author of the thesis has analysed the rural BOP market of Cameroon, identified the critical factors of success and created a model to successfully exploit the solar market. Subsequently, the model has been applied to the rural BOP market in Cameroon and evaluated using the example of C.S.S.