Commerce graduate Shanil Samarakoon turned his back on a traditional career in business to become a social entrepreneur. While at university, he set up Empower, an organisation that helps poor communities in developing nations to help themselves. Access to electricity can be the key to social and economic growth, believes Samarakoon who has been named 2010’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year. In an interview for Knowledge @ Australian School of Business, Samarakoon outlines Empower’s latest project that aims to generate self-reliance in rural villages in the African nation of Malawi through microfinance, sustainable technologies and building their entrepreneurial skills.