Founded in 2011, the organisation, Frontier Markets is a last-mile distribution company with a mission is to create ‘Saral Jeevan’ or an ‘Easy Life’ for rural customers by providing them with access to quality clean energy solutions through our network of digitized rural entrepreneurs, with women at the center of the value chain. Frontier Markets’ founder & CEO, Ajaita Shah, has 12 years experience in microfinance and clean energy distribution. She has been a Clinton Service Corp, Echoing Green, and Cordes Fellow and has been awarded many accolades including Forbes, Business Week, CNBC, and Microfinance’s 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur and Women Entrepreneur of the Year. Ajaita grew up in an Indian community in New York City, studying international relations and working in various areas of government, research, and mediation. She moved to India after college to work in microfinance achieving grand outcomes in health care, energy, social performance management, and other sector innovations. She did not know that she wanted to be an entrepreneur, but, while working in India, she did start realizing she had entrepreneurial mindsets, skills, and mentalities.

Ajaita was always drawn to India because of her upbringing, and she felt that she could combine her experiences in college, work, and background to address challenges that would create large impact. India seemed to be a clear place where Ajaita saw the need for solar energy solutions. In India, she was able to leverage her Indian background, her ability to speak, read and write in Hindi, and learn to assimilate the local culture in multiple states of India. Her passion to make a difference, to understand people, to connect with their life, and try to understand ways to address challenges, gave birth to Frontier Markets. Today Frontier Markets has been able to drive efficiency in sales, data collection allowing it to build lifetime brand value for the customer, and drive new products and solutions leveraging its existing network of 5000 rural entrepreneurs.