Giving Compass' Take:

• Forbes reports on a startup called 10Power that is helping Haiti install solar energy panels, helping to provide a sustainable solution to a country-wide electricity access problem.

• 10Power, led by a young female entrepreneur, is a good example of how collaboration between public and private interests can work. Are we doing enough to support startups like it?

• Here's how your company can support Haiti and other similar countries.

One of the most exposed countries in the world to natural disasters, Haiti, an independent island state in the Caribbean with a population of close to 11 million, has been hit by hurricanes, floods and earthquakes with increasing ferocity and frequency. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew wiped out agricultural farms in South Haiti, which prior that year brought 74% of the country’s new jobs.

Although sharing the island with neighboring Dominican Republic where everyone has access to electricity, Haiti has limited access to electricity — where only 38% of Haitians in 2016 have a connection to the electrical grid, a small improvement from 28% of Haitians in 1990. Even those with access to the grid today still experience frequent blackouts and unreliable power quality.

Despite dealing with natural disasters and energy poverty, Haiti has optimistically made hard commitments to create a renewable energy economy ...

Leading the charge, millennial female social entrepreneur, Sandra Kwak, and founder of social venture 10Power, is pioneering the way in Haiti by fostering the collaborative support of the public and private sectors. Working in frontier markets, 10Power partners with local installers, providing and financing project developments for commercial-scale solar and energy storage solutions. In turn, this builds market ecosystems. “Our goal is to provide affordable, reliable renewable energy that will save businesses money and create jobs,” says Kwak.

Read the full article about solar startup brings renewable to Haiti by Neil Yeoh at Forbes.