Gem of an idea

Plato, the Greek author and philosopher famously stated that “Necessity is the mother of invention”. Almost 2500 years on, his words are still extremely relevant – and even more so in this current climate, with efficient, affordable and sustainable power distribution being the matter at hand.

When Sydney-based Indian origin entrepreneur Khimji Vaghjiani came up with a gem of an idea to provide a service in a critical area, he did not know it would take him on to win an international award.

Founded in 2008, his company SolarGem is much more than your average electricity company. The business aims to “light up the world”, implementing clean solar technologies in a bid to provide, in an affordable manner, off-grid energy to the world’s 1.6 billion people without electricity in rural and regional populations. Recently, the company was one of 7 selected from an initial group of 68 in Australia, to compete at an Innovation Shootout competition, held at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus in California. Only two of these companies were from NSW.

The Shootout’s main objective is to showcase Australian technologies, with the companies given five minutes to convince a panel of Microsoft Staff, along with industry analysts and Silicon Valley venture capitalists, that their respective technologies had potential for success in the US. The event was held as part of the G’Day USA: Australia Week, which promotes Australian culture, business, fashion and food throughout the US.

Khimji Vaghjiani, CEO and co-founder of the company, says of the achievement: “Participating in the Innovation Shootout was an extremely valuable opportunity. The advice, feedback and guidance we received from everyone involved gives us the building blocks we need to work towards our goal of breaking into the US market”.

Solar-Gem, as the winner of the 2010 Innovation Shootout, received a prize package which will help its business take off in the United States. The package includes various types of support, with legal, financial and marketing consultation worth approximately $40,000. However, the company had humble beginnings; speaking of the journey, Vaghjiani says, “A couple of guys got together and came up with some ideas. Then we took the opportunity in the market, particularly in India. We got the response that there was definitely an opportunity here. We got the product together, built the first prototypes as you do, and acquired initial investment funding. Soon the government asked us to put in an application for the G’Day USA: Australia program”.

And indeed, in front of an audience of over 350 people, along with an elite panel of judges, Vaghjiani believes it was his team’s ability to demonstrate his marketability, along with a “little bit of passion” from his side, which earned the company the title.

With some of the big names in the judging panel, such as Allison Leopold Tilley, partner at Pillsbury; Microsoft’s Dan’l Lewin, corporate Vice President and Deborah Magid, Director of Software Strategy at IBM Venture Capital Group, it was naturally a huge achievement for this small innovative company.

“Solar-Gem solves several critically important global problems at one time,” said Mark Anderson, CEO of Strategic News Service and chair of the panel. “Their technology can be a great enabler panels, the company uses innovative designs that do not require trained technicians for installation – indeed, the lights can easily be screwed to walls or ceilings, or even tied to posts and ceiling rafters with such readily available materials as string or wire. In addition, the solid state LEDs used are impact and shock resistant – they are completely weather proof, crucial for the remote areas these are employed in.

Efficiency is a factor - a single Solar-Gem modular can power up to 6 LED lights, each with independent dimming. Modules can be used in any number of ways – for example, modules can be added to power small appliances like electric hotplates; however, the USB capability allows the battery unit to even charge mobile telephones and laptops!

Of course, the clean energy in use is a huge benefit of the product – Solar-Gem provides a solar off-grid solution that eliminates the indoor air pollution as a result of burning solid fuels which alone claims portable generators, are 25% cheaper than using charcoal and as a result of this, create a more empowered and uplifted community. The company’s solar generator is in fact currently being used as a backup in the emergency hospital ward in the Republic of Congo – a country where most of the media is owned by the government.

As Vaghjiani adequately explains, “What we’re trying to do is a good thing”.

Solar-Gem has placed units on trial at mining sites, and even in our own backyard (albeit the very far-away backyard of the remoter regions of Western Australia). Their main market, however, lies within India, and the team hopes to grow and expand the business in the country, with an obvious focus on the rural areas.

Vaghjiani enjoys “being able to make the decisions yourself …you can be creative, be able to know that you’ve got the freedom of driving it as fast as you can.” With such a great start to the journey, there is certainly no limit as to how fast this car will drive…

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