ABOVE: Miguel (far left) and I with some of the franchisees in North Bungoma.
Miguel and I met with the franchisees today. It is my first experience of rural Kenya and of meeting our franchisees. We decided to spend the day talking to them and discussing how sales have been and what they need to help them expand their business.
As well as this, I also showed them the ideas we've had for new products. They liked the range of ideas and were excited to see what they could potentially be selling in the future.
ABOVE: Miguel with Benson and two other franchisees in North Bungoma.
Our plans are now to spend the week with every franchisee visiting schools in their area, generating interest in solar and getting some people together for a focus group at the end of the week.
More updates soon...
Marianne
Design and Production Coordinator - SolarAid
It's all go in Kenya!
Following 12 weeks of product testing in rural communities, we've just launched an exciting new solar product which offers people much improved lighting and reliable phone charging. The product is housed in a locally made canvas bag, designed by Martin who leads a small team of tailors in Nakuru.
His team are now busy making bags to meet growing demand!
Martin (above on the right) fitting the new solar products into his tailor made bags.
The solar industry is fast moving with on-going technical advances. So, as a pioneering organisation we work hard to ensure we are always keeping track of new product developments so we can bring these to where they are needed.
Our franchisees, together with people living across Kenya (who have been involved in the tests) have given the new product a resounding vote of confidence, urging us to bring them into the market as soon as we can.
The good news is that that time is now, with the first sales taking place this week in North Bongoma.
Good news for solar. Good news for rural Kenya. Good news for carbon reduction and bad news for kerosene sales!
Romonah and Benson, two of SolarAid's franchisees show off the new products before going out to sell.
We're excited to announce that the Kenya team have just taken delivery of 500 units of our new and improved microsolar product - the Kadzuwa 1000! (Kadzuwa means 'little sun' in Chichewa, a language used widely in Malawi, where the product was first developed).
With harvest time upon us in Kenya we anticipate an increase in seasonal income. We try to adhere to the seasonal patterns of income and so we forecast lower sales figures of microsolar products during the hungry season and higher sales during the harvest season.
SolarChill update
In our last blog, we told you about an exciting new partnership with SolarChill. We're very pleased to announce that the first SolarChill fridge has now been installed in a clinic in Mahuru Bay. This is a pilot testing phase but we hope to be implementing more solar fridges in clinics across Kenya. During this pilot stage we'll be looking in particular at how effective the fridge is, how user-friendly it is and we'll also consider any space issues within the fridge itself. Ultimately we'd like to replace all generator-powered fridges with SolarChill fridges. We'll be prioritising clinics that currently have little or no supplies and resources. Having access to refrigeration opens up many possibilities to these rural services, storing vaccinations and blood samples being just two examples.
Finally, I'll soon be arriving in Nairobi for the start of an extended period in Kenya and Zambia, and so I'll have more updates from the field soon.
Until then!
Miguel
In Kenya, we're busy planning for the arrival of the soon-to-be-recruited Micro-franchise Co-ordinator.
We're also about to start an exciting partnership with SolarChill. Their product - a solar powered vaccine refridgerator- is already on the market. SolarAid will be working with the organisation as part of an experimental process, in the hope to roll out implementation of the SolarChill fridge at all SolarAid macro-solar clinics in the coming months. This is an exciting new phase for SolarAid Kenya.
In other news, we are soon to reach the end of a 12 week product testing period. The results so far show that our mass-produced product will be highly effective and will very efficiently meet the lighting needs of rural Kenyans. We feel optimistic about this product so watch this space.
Hello everyone!
May's been an eventful month, with my trip to visit our programmes in Kenya and Zambia postponed due to visa delays. This has been not only frustrating but also disheartening for the projects where my presence was sorely needed.
I am hoping to now be on my way mid-August. In Zambia I will be visiting the programmes with our funding contact from the Global Cool Foundation. I will also meet with our programme manager Trevor to go over the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) processes as well as visit our macrosolar sites where schools and community centres have been benefiting from the panels for up to a year.
In Kenya I will be helping align the existing processes with ones we have designed in our London offices. I will be visiting our micro-franchisees and conducting important M&E surveys and focus groups - which allow us to evaluate how our solar products are changing the lives of our customers and franchisees.
SolarAid takes the Monitoring and Evaluation of its programmes seriously and at present we are rolling out fresh processes to further understand the effect of our products to all involved: Franchisee, Customer and Manufacturer. This process comes in the form of surveys, one-to-one discussions, focus groups and more! As an organization we seek to constantly improve and ensure that we are meeting our remit of fighting climate change and poverty through solar and micro-businesses. With open minds and a strong dedication to those in great need we push on forward!
Miguel Ramirez... still in the London office
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