Raised in the United States, Nedjip “Ned” Tozun witnessed the vast differences in infrastructure between Silicon Valley and Northern Cyprus, where much of his family lives. “I realized at a young age there was this gap of opportunity based on where you’re born, and I wanted to do something about that,” Nedjip says. Nedjip was determined to get into the GSB’s “Design for Extreme Affordability” course, but when that didn’t happen, he showed up to class anyway. After “weeks and weeks” of attending unregistered, Nedjip was finally admitted, and that’s where he met Sam Goldman, MBA ’07.
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, Sam had seen a horrible accident involving his neighbor’s kerosene lamp, and together with Nedjip, the pair set out to rid emerging markets of kerosene reliance for good. In 2007, they founded d.light, a company that makes reliable, affordable solar energy accessible to low-income families worldwide. As CEO and co-founder, Nedjip was named to the TIME100 Climate list of influential climate leaders. He also serves on the board of Sanku – Project Healthy Children, which provides fortified foods to children in Africa. “Nedjip leads with humility and clarity of purpose, building a mission-driven organization that has scaled sustainably across some of the hardest markets in the world,” says Karl Skare, MBA ’13, d.light’s chief product and strategy officer. “He has shown that it’s possible to blend deep impact with commercial discipline, creating a blueprint for how businesses can drive systemic change.”
Today, d.light merges product innovation with last-mile distribution and a proprietary fintech platform. It has more than 800 full-time employees and a 10,000-strong salesforce across more than 60 countries. Most importantly, it has brought solar energy to 190 million people across the globe. Its goal now is to reach 1 billion. “There’s a lot of deep personal satisfaction that I get in having a life that’s driven by purpose,” Nedjip says. “It’s enabled me to live a life that’s not always the easiest but has always been exciting and filled with adventure.”
