The organisation was founded in 2012 by the contemporary artist Olafur Eliasson, and Frederik Ottesen, an engineer – an artist and a problem solver who look at the world from different perspectives. Little Sun started as a simple idea to create a small, portable, solar lamp for people living without electricity in Ethiopia. Little Sun has grown into a global project that has changed millions of lives through the distribution of over 1.2 million personal solar devices to students, refugees, teachers and community health workers. Little Sun is registered as a non-profit in the United States as well as in Germany.

Little Sun designs and delivers affordable clean energy solutions and inspires people to take climate action. Universal access to clean energy is the company’s vision. Little Sun has helped create thousands of local jobs, and generated local profits for rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for women. In response to the COVID crisis, Little Sun is equipping thousands of healthcare workers with solar phone chargers so they can better meet the needs of rural patients. The company is also bringing solar systems to rural health facilities in Senegal and Ethiopia to help power diagnostic equipment, vaccine storage and support maternal health.