 This is how 1.2 billion people on Earth live. In the dark. When the sun goes down over many developing nations, the percentage of the population that has no electricity has to fend for itself. They battle the night using kerosene lamps and other inefficient methods. Productivity goes down and they're unable to study or work, factors that perpetuate inequality and poverty. Can anything be done to lift these people out of the darkness? It has been a horrifying week here in Port-au-Prince. A week where the dead, the injured and the homeless are sharing a city largely reduced to rubble. The earthquake rocked this impoverished Caribbean nation late this afternoon. 316,000 people died and many more lost their homes. In the winter of 2010, Haiti was devastated by the most powerful earthquake to hit the island in two centuries. Between 230,000 and 315,000 individuals were killed and more than a million were displaced. The country's infrastructure, never robust to begin with, had been ravaged by severe tropical storms and hurricanes in previous years. After the earthquake, many were left without basic necessities. Food, water, shelter and not least of all, light. In many of those parts of the world, a lot of the violence occurs in places of darkness. So we knew we wanted to start with light. I was born in New York but I spent every summer in Haiti and after the earthquake I brought seven delegations of influencers and people who I thought could be helpful to the development efforts. And it was clear given that Haiti is about 80% off-grid, there's a preponderance of solar and so if we could bring those things together, we could have tremendous impact. In rural areas where we work, the day ends basically 6 p.m. and many kids cannot read at night unless their parents are able to buy lamps to lighten their houses. And even many families do not have the means to do that. Born out of a desire to eradicate these problems, Empower developed the Lucy Lantern, a compact, lightweight, inflatable LED light that harnesses small solar panels to illuminate the darkest corners of these developing areas. So their pitch was that they wanted to develop a lighting product that could be sold for a profit and really do good but also be a business model. So the goal was could we make a solar charged product that could provide as much light if not more and a cost that was lower than what it would be for a kerosene lantern. So the Lucy Lantern is lightweight, super compact, weighs about four ounces, waterproof and provides significantly more light than other products that cost five to ten dollars more. But it also does so in an elegant manner. It's something that you can have in any room, whether it's developing or developed market, and it's beautiful. Simple press of the button turns the unit on in a normal output setting which lasts about 12 hours and in a high setting which lasts about six hours. On the bottom side you can see the solar panel. We came up with a very reliable design which is easy to produce. The battery stores the energy here, the solar panel on this side, the LED is around and then the control electronics for controlling both the charging and discharging of the battery and also the various lighting modes. It's completely waterproof, submersible to more than a meter. You would think actually it's pretty reliable but really, you know, it's an incredible amount of stress and remains very, very rugged and reliable. Part of our focus is to create the best in class solar powered products in the space. We want to be clear that at least initially we're focused on getting the best technology to the people we need it most. The type of feedback we get is incredible. Literally people are seeing our product and they're like, wow, my life is going to change in so many ways. People are for the first time experiencing these lanterns and the reaction is just incredible. They cry. They literally break down and cry over something that you and I look at as a toy but it's because we haven't ever had the opportunity to really be in the dark our whole life and for the first time ever actually have a really quality lantern inside the home or in a school. The impacts are enormous. I witnessed firsthand the importance of these lights for the children and other families. So then what happened is the developed markets are like, wow, that's super cool. I want it too. Now once the developed start to pick it up, it quickly increases revenues, lower costs, allow us to pour more into R&D and develop products that will resonate with that base of the pyramid even more so that we can come back to market with products that are as impactful, if not more so, but even at a lower cost. So our sales here do enable us to do good in the developing world because we're such a large consumer market in the United States. The ability to generate volume here enables us to fund what we want to do elsewhere in the world. For every order we get from one of our major retailers, whether it's Lowe's or EMS, that in turn it affords us to be able to give more through our NGO partners. And what I hope to see is a continuation of that kind of relationship. The days of simply maximizing profits are behind us. Information flows too quickly. It's understanding that we live in an interconnected world and figuring out what each part of that world can offer to the other in order to ensure that everyone benefits.
 This is how 1.2 billion people on Earth live. In the dark. When the sun goes down over many
 developing nations, the percentage of the population that has no electricity has to
 fend for itself. They battle the night using kerosene lamps and other inefficient methods.
 Productivity goes down and they're unable to study or work, factors that perpetuate
 inequality and poverty. Can anything be done to lift these people out of the darkness?
 It has been a horrifying week here in Port-au-Prince. A week where the dead, the injured and the
 homeless are sharing a city largely reduced to rubble. The earthquake rocked this impoverished
 Caribbean nation late this afternoon. 316,000 people died and many more lost their homes.
 In the winter of 2010, Haiti was devastated by the most powerful earthquake to hit the
 island in two centuries. Between 230,000 and 315,000 individuals were killed and more than
 a million were displaced. The country's infrastructure, never robust to begin with, had been ravaged
 by severe tropical storms and hurricanes in previous years. After the earthquake, many
 were left without basic necessities. Food, water, shelter and not least of all, light.
 In many of those parts of the world, a lot of the violence occurs in places of darkness.
 So we knew we wanted to start with light. I was born in New York but I spent every summer
 in Haiti and after the earthquake I brought seven delegations of influencers and people
 who I thought could be helpful to the development efforts. And it was clear given that Haiti
 is about 80% off-grid, there's a preponderance of solar and so if we could bring those things
 together, we could have tremendous impact. In rural areas where we work, the day ends
 basically 6 p.m. and many kids cannot read at night unless their parents are able to
 buy lamps to lighten their houses. And even many families do not have the means to do
 that. Born out of a desire to eradicate these problems,
 Empower developed the Lucy Lantern, a compact, lightweight, inflatable LED light that harnesses
 small solar panels to illuminate the darkest corners of these developing areas. So their
 pitch was that they wanted to develop a lighting product that could be sold for a profit and
 really do good but also be a business model. So the goal was could we make a solar charged
 product that could provide as much light if not more and a cost that was lower than what
 it would be for a kerosene lantern. So the Lucy Lantern is lightweight, super compact,
 weighs about four ounces, waterproof and provides significantly more light than other products
 that cost five to ten dollars more. But it also does so in an elegant manner. It's something
 that you can have in any room, whether it's developing or developed market, and it's beautiful.
 Simple press of the button turns the unit on in a normal output setting which lasts
 about 12 hours and in a high setting which lasts about six hours. On the bottom side
 you can see the solar panel. We came up with a very reliable design which is easy to produce.
 The battery stores the energy here, the solar panel on this side, the LED is around and
 then the control electronics for controlling both the charging and discharging of the battery
 and also the various lighting modes. It's completely waterproof, submersible to more
 than a meter. You would think actually it's pretty reliable but really, you know, it's
 an incredible amount of stress and remains very, very rugged and reliable. Part of our
 focus is to create the best in class solar powered products in the space. We want to
 be clear that at least initially we're focused on getting the best technology to the people
 we need it most. The type of feedback we get is incredible. Literally people are seeing
 our product and they're like, wow, my life is going to change in so many ways. People
 are for the first time experiencing these lanterns and the reaction is just incredible.
 They cry. They literally break down and cry over something that you and I look at as a
 toy but it's because we haven't ever had the opportunity to really be in the dark our whole
 life and for the first time ever actually have a really quality lantern inside the home
 or in a school. The impacts are enormous. I witnessed firsthand the importance of these
 lights for the children and other families. So then what happened is the developed markets
 are like, wow, that's super cool. I want it too. Now once the developed start to pick
 it up, it quickly increases revenues, lower costs, allow us to pour more into R&D and
 develop products that will resonate with that base of the pyramid even more so that we can
 come back to market with products that are as impactful, if not more so, but even at
 a lower cost. So our sales here do enable us to do good in the developing world because
 we're such a large consumer market in the United States. The ability to generate volume
 here enables us to fund what we want to do elsewhere in the world. For every order we
 get from one of our major retailers, whether it's Lowe's or EMS, that in turn it affords
 us to be able to give more through our NGO partners. And what I hope to see is a continuation
 of that kind of relationship. The days of simply maximizing profits are behind us. Information
 flows too quickly. It's understanding that we live in an interconnected world and figuring
 out what each part of that world can offer to the other in order to ensure that everyone
 benefits.