www.essmart-global.com

Essmart is a social enterprise facilitating last-mile access to critical products through its growing network of rural retail shops. By providing local shopkeepers with access to products that create social impact, such as solar lights, clean cookstoves, eyeglasses, and agricultural products, it is improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of underserved customers throughout southern India.

Essmart serves small family-owned retail businesses with a more diverse and impactful set of products, increasing the incomes of small shop-owners, and improving access to and knowledge of life-change changing technologies. Leveraging its large network of rural markets and gathering key market data, Essmart serves the needs of underserved customers through tailored products and service offerings. To date, Essmart has reached over 485,000 people, averting over 30 million kilograms of carbon emissions, and increasing productivity through improved access to and awareness of solar products and other key technologies.

S3IDF’s investment in Essmart enabled it to close a key funding round during a global pandemic when providing its essential products and services to customers became increasingly challenging yet even more important.