Six young Australians who quit their jobs and moved to India to start their own company are beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Pollinate Energy was started with the aim to provide cost-effective lighting for the slums of India, while remaining economically sustainable as a business.

The partners, who are now earning good salaries from the business, started $50,000 in debt and worked for free in their first year just to get the start-up off the ground.

Emma Colenbrander, Monique Alfrif, Ben Merven, Katarina Kammorley, Jamie Chivers, and Alexi Seller quit their day jobs to start their own company

The company provides power-less communities in India with sustainable lighting

The company founders worked long hours without pay to get their business off the ground

Pollinate Energy founders Emma Colenbrander, Monique Alfrif, Ben Merven, Katarina Kammorley, Jamie Chivers and Alexi Seller came together after three members of the team saw the need for sustainable light sources in an Indian slum, Ms Colenbrander told Daily Mail Australia.

'Monique, Kat and Jamie were looking for a solar solution in a little community on the outskirts of Bangalore after it was found that the kids living their couldn't do their homework because they didn't have access to light at night,' she said.

'They found that energy poverty was actually wide-spread and that there were a lot of very neglected transient slum communities, that didn't have access to no basic services like electricity.'

Monique was working with a non-government organisation delivering solar technology across south-east Asia, when the idea for the startup came about.

She met Jamie, an energy economist, professionally and was introduced to his partner, Kat, who also works in energy.

Emma, who was a friend of Jamie's, heard about the idea to help provide light to the slum communities and jumped on board.

The Australians are now based in India where they run the business

They now hire 45 staff who go door to door to sell their products in the slums

Monique, Jamie and Kat were the first people to leave their lives in Australia, arriving in India to work full-time in early 2012.

They worked out of the premises of another not for profit organisation for three months before finding their own building.

In 2013 Ben left his job and joined the others on the ground, Alexi quit her job in 2014 and currently works from the Australian office and Emma relocated this year.

The friends have recently paid off their initial debt and are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

'We are rapidly approaching breaking even,' she said.

'We now have 45 staff helping us, which is a relief for my colleagues who spent so long earning nothing and working their guts off.

The company now has a very strict work-life balance policy where they work a maximum of ten hours per day, and don't go in on weekends.

'There is always more to do, but it is important that everybody goes home at a reasonable hour, otherwise we wouldn't be sustainable as an organisation and we would see a lot of burnout.'

The company sells solar lights to communities without power, and have a range of products available, including a lamp which can also be used to charge mobile telephones.

The company has finished paying off its starting debt, and is now in its third year

Lighting in slums is often provided by kerosene lamps which are dangerous and expensive to run

The products range in price between nine dollars and $45, which is expensive for the families living in the slums, as they earn an average of just ten dollars per week.

'It is a large investment up-front for the people in the community,' Ms Colenbrander said.

'But in the long-term it saves them money, because the kerosene which they use in their current lamps costs around three dollars per week.

'In four months the most expensive lamp pays for its self, and the families are able to save the three dollars they used to spend on the keroscene.'

Each lamp comes with a two-year warrantee.

Their head office is located in Bangalore, India, but they also have an office in Melbourne, Australia

Their staff are primarily from the communities they are selling to, as they understand the culture, and can communicate well with the customers

The lights are an expensive investment, with the cheapest product on the market for the average families' weekly earnings

The products are sold door-to-door in the slums by salespeople the company calls 'pollinators'.

'Our pollinators are all local men and woman from the community, they have the cultural and linguistic skills needed to build close relationships with our customers.'

The company credits their new payment structure to its recent economic success.

'We have changed the payment structure, it is now commission based.

'We find people are working harder, and selling more.

'This simple change has made a huge improvement in the way our business is run, and brought us closer financial sustainability, which will help us help more people.'

The company founders were all under 30 when they started the business

Pollinate Energy is not-for-profit so when it does start to make more money the funds will be injected back into the business so that they can service more slum cities around India.

'We won't be generating profit for some-time, once we are operating eight cities we will generate enough profit to outweigh our supporter cost.'

They are currently operating in three cities and have made it to the finals of a funding competition held Chivas Regal's global search to find and support the most promising social entrepreneurs who aim to succeed in business, whilst having a positive impact on the lives of others.

They are 'rapidly heading towards breaking even' and looking to expand

They are a not-for-profit organisation and hope to provide light to all of the powerless communities in the world

They will be asking for $250,000 if they win which will help grow their business throughout communities without power across the world.

'We're excited about what this funding would allow us to do and the number of people we would be able to help,' Ms Colenbrander said.