Much has been written about the daily challenge for survival faced by countless millions of developing world families and the overdeveloped world has offered a number of solutions by which those at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) can help themselves. Light Up The World (LUTW), the global leader in bringing Renewable Energy (RE) based Solid State Lighting (SSL) to the developing world, offers yet another solution, and one that comes with a very high probability of success. In this paper we discuss: the critical role played by micro credit (banking for the poor); a typical example of a developing world community and their lighting needs and expenditures; how SSL can contribute positively to all eight of the Millennium Development Goals; the micro and macroeconomics of SSL at the BOP, its numerous societal benefits and its potential perverse outcomes; and thought there will always be a role for the donation based model, it is only through the market model that safe, healthy and affordable SSL will reach the majority of the BOP, such are the staggering numbers involved. LUTW's fundamental goal, through the facilitation of RE based SSL, is to improve the quality of life of those, who through no fault of their own, find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty.
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