Harish Hande

Who is Harish Hande?

Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur, who co-founded SELCO India in 1995.

He was born in Handattu, Kundapura Taluk, Udupi District, Karnataka and raised in Rourkela, Orissa, India. After completing his basic schooling in Orissa in Ispat English Medium School, he went to IIT Kharagpur for his undergraduate studies in Energy Engineering. He then went to the U.S. to do his Master’s and later PhD. in Energy Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Hande co-founded SELCO INDIA, a social enterprise, to eradicate poverty by promoting sustainable technologies in rural India. SELCO India is a social enterprise that provides sustainable energy services to the poor in India. He was awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2011 for "his pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor, through his social enterprise SELCO India". In 2013 the Trustees of University of Massachusetts awarded him the Doctorate of Humane Letters.

SELCO INDIA under the leadership of Hande has won the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy 2005 and Accenture Economic Development Award for 2005.