Harish Hande

Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur, who co-founded SELCO India in 1995. Today, Harish serves as the Chairman of the Board at SELCO. He is now focusing on supporting the SELCO foundation which operates rural labs across India, a first step towards fostering an ecosystem where technology, finance, entrepreneurship and policy intersect. Harish envisages these labs transforming the problem-solving capacity of communities to address the unique local needs within their ecosystem. 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". Harish Hande was also awarded the Karnataka Rajyotsava Prashasti in 2011 by the Government of Karnataka. In 2013 the Trustees of University of Massachusetts awarded him the Doctorate of Humane Letters. In 2014 IIT Kharagpur conferred upon him the distinguished alumnus award. Dr. Hande earned his Doctorate in energy engineering (solar specialty) at the University of Massachusetts (Lowell). He has an undergraduate degree in Energy Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. Dr. Hande serves on the boards of many organizations, both national and international.