Leavey’s Analytics Showdown Winners Help Power Madagascar's Solar Future
In an inspiring blend of data science and social impact, the Leavey School of Business’ Fall 2024 Analytics Showdown challenged students to help revolutionize solar power distribution in Madagascar. The competition, sponsored by ServiceNow and Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, tasked graduate students from the Master's in Business Analytics (MSBA) program to analyze data from JiroVe, a network of franchised solar energy shops bringing sustainable power solutions to underserved communities.
JiroVe, whose name means "Do you want light? We have light" in Malagasy, operates through a network of local entrepreneurs who rent out power banks to customers who would otherwise rely on kerosene lanterns or candles for lighting. The company currently serves 16,000 daily users and has powered 50 schools, but needed help making sense of their growing mountain of operational data.
"All this data is really great, but not if you cannot make sense of it," explained Rik Stamhuis, co-founder and managing director of JiroVe, in his challenge introduction to the students. "We're really relying on you to help us with this major challenge."
Rising to that challenge were Dylan Gordon and Dominic Kubica, two roommates and MSBA students who clinched first place with their sophisticated analysis of JiroVe's customer engagement patterns. Their winning presentation revealed several key insights, including the discovery that women tend to be more loyal customers than men, and that inland agricultural communities showed stronger engagement with the service compared to coastal regions.
"I'm recently coming from a biochemistry background, and had no experience in data analytics at all," shared Gordon during the awards ceremony. "Initially, I just wanted something cool to put on my resume and to demonstrate that I tried something hard, so I have to say, I wasn't expecting for it to work out like this, but I'm really excited to let everyone know that we did this and we succeeded."
The two-week competition featured support from ServiceNow mentors who held office hours to help students understand the data and refine their approaches. Judges evaluated submissions on both business impact and analytical rigor, looking for solutions that could create real-world change in Madagascar's energy landscape.
"The winning team did a great job in terms of understanding the problem and presenting the results in a clear manner," noted Dr. Tao Li, Faculty Director of the MSBA program. "The data visualization was very good, and the analytics tools they used were appropriate, and the analysis was thorough. They went beyond the data provided by the sponsor and collected data from the Internet to enrich their analysis."
"The true value of data analytics lies in making it actionable," noted one of the judges. "Every team succeeded in transforming raw data into practical insights. We're looking forward to seeing how JiroVe implements these recommendations over the next year – that will be the real measure of impact."
For their winning analysis, Gordon and Kubica received a cash prize along with vanilla from Madagascar - a fitting reward for helping to brighten the future of sustainable energy in the region. Their success story demonstrates how data analytics can bridge the gap between technical innovation and social impact, while highlighting Leavey’s commitment to developing business leaders who can drive positive change in the world.