KarmSolar: Reaching for the sun

In the spring of 2012, the sun appears to be shining on the latest solar technology startup, KarmSolar. The company came to the foreground of Egypt’s technology stage on the laurels of Google’s blockbuster nine-month long Ebda competition. KarmSolar made it to the top 20 finalists, but lost the top prize to traffic reporting service Bey2ollak.

They’ve also been generating global buzz, winning the $11,000 (LE 66,440) first prize in the Wharton-HCT Innovation Tournament announced in May in Abu Dhabi. At the event, KarmSolar CEO Ahmed Zahran pledged to make the project commercially viable over the next 12 months.

“We believe our project will help modernize the agriculture sector and support sustainable food production by providing agriculture farms with an affordable and efficient solar energy solution,” he said.

This lofty goal may seem daring for a new entrepreneur anywhere in the world. But KarmSolar faces a unique set of challenges as a technology developer in an industry that has yet to convince investors it is not only “feel-good” technology of the future, but can also offer commercially viable and a consistently competitive product.