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    Affordable lighting for mass appeal

    Candles Killer: Igniting a blue ocean at the bottom of the pyramid

    In villages long dependent on dangerous kerosene lamps, Shenzhen Power-Solution (SPS) sparked a revolution with the Candles Killer, a solar lamp priced under $5. By stripping design to nine components and leveraging everyday items like water bottles for stands, SPS unlocked affordable, safe light for millions. By 2023, 55 million people across 66 countries were illuminated, while 6.7 million tons of carbon emissions were avoided. Could this simple innovation be the blueprint for serving the world’s most underserved markets?

    Winter Nie and Yunfei Feng
    November 2025
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