Empowering the Global South through sustainable innovation

The Global South has reached a critical turning point in its pursuit of sustainable development. With climate change intensifying and energy poverty remaining a significant barrier to progress, millions around the world find themselves walking a very tight line between insurmountable obstacles and vast opportunities. To ensure the right outcomes prevail, innovation is playing a central role in enabling communities across the Global South to improve living standards and expand energy access, all while ensuring that growth does not come at the cost of environmental degradation.

While systemic issues—including inadequate infrastructure, financing gaps, and uneven technical capacity—continue to stand in the way of this necessary transformation, entrepreneurs in developing countries are proving to be resilient and adaptable, creating new solutions that can overcome these obstacles and support those in need.

At SOLshare, we embrace innovation and creativity to tackle climate change through practical solutions that drive sustainable socio-economic development. Our home, Bangladesh, has incredible potential for growth and prosperity, fuelled by a young population seeking to create better lives for themselves and future generations.

SOLshare began by pioneering decentralised renewable energy systems in Bangladesh, introducing peer-to-peer energy-sharing networks, or microgrids, that allowed households to sell surplus solar power to others in the community, creating a new source of income. To date, we’ve installed 120 microgrids, benefiting over 80,000 people with energy access services.

This community-centred approach is also being adopted in other parts of the region. In Nepal, where rural electrification remains a challenge, solar PV is complementing community-based hydropower minigrids to power schools, health centres, and small businesses in remote areas. Similarly, in India, decentralised solar projects are helping electrify last-mile communities, enabling smallholder farmers to use solar-powered pumps for irrigation, significantly improving agricultural productivity while reducing diesel dependency.

Distributed solar systems have proven invaluable in regions where extending centralised grid infrastructure is impractical. Yet even with their growing adoption, countries across the Global South remain far behind major economies in installed solar capacity. While China, the US, and Germany lead the world in large-scale solar deployments, many emerging economies struggle to scale due to fragmented policies and financing constraints. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 750 million people worldwide—mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia—still lack electricity access.

This underscores the importance of decentralised, community-driven solutions, not just for household energy but also for transforming mobility. As millions in the Global South rely on electric three-wheelers and motorcycles for transport and livelihoods, integrating solar-powered charging and smart battery technology can help bridge the energy access gap while reducing reliance on polluting fuels.
SOLshare is taking this a step further by turning electric three-wheelers into virtual power plants for the national grid. By installing solar-powered charging stations and integrating pay-as-you-go IoT (Internet of Things) tech and smart lithium-ion batteries, the company enables drivers to access cleaner energy while also feeding surplus power back into the grid during peak demand. This innovation not only accelerates clean transport and economic inclusion but also strengthens grid stability, demonstrating how decentralised energy solutions can power mobility while supporting national energy infrastructure.

Beyond addressing immediate energy needs, these local innovations also contribute to broader sustainability goals. By creating decentralised, renewable-powered networks, they reduce greenhouse gas emissions, foster economic resilience, and empower underserved communities. Importantly, they provide a replicable model for other regions facing similar challenges.
To fully unlock this potential, a coordinated effort is needed to bridge gaps in financing, policy, and infrastructure. International collaboration, capacity building, and the exchange of best practices will be critical to accelerating the energy transition in the Global South. Research by the World Bank demonstrates that investments in decentralised energy solutions could provide electricity to over 500 million people by 2030, reducing poverty and advancing development in the process.

While government action and private sector initiatives are the most important levers for driving this investment, philanthropic efforts have proven incredibly effective in providing critical funding for emerging technologies, including decentralised energy systems. Entities such as the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Zayed Sustainability Prize—a pioneering sustainability award recognising small and medium enterprises (SMEs), nonprofit organisations and high schools around the world—have helped unleash the potential of the Global South by giving local innovators access to investors and resources that can help scale their projects.

SOLshare was honoured with the 2022 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Energy category, for which we received a transformational financial award that helped us scale our innovations, expand our reach, and accelerate our impact in sustainable energy solutions. This January, we were thrilled to hear that a fellow Bangladeshi innovator, Palki Motors, had won the 2025 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the same category, reflecting both the incredible talent and promise of our country’s entrepreneurs, as well as the undeniable impact of sustainable energy solutions in the Global South.

As we look to the future, developing countries have the opportunity to redefine sustainability—not by following the path of wealthier nations, but by pioneering innovative, inclusive approaches that reflect their unique challenges and strengths. By investing in decentralised, scalable, and community-driven solutions, the region can chart a course towards a cleaner, more equitable future, one neighbourhood at a time.

If you’re part of an SME, nonprofit, or high school driving sustainable solutions, consider applying to the 2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize and get a chance to scale your work and make your impact felt on a global stage. Submissions are open until 23 June.

This article is contributed by Sebastian Groh, CEO of SOLshare.

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