February 2010 Archives

This was my first opportunity to meet our Kenyan Sunny Money franchisees. It was quite momentous for me personally as I'd heard so much about them! Our venue was a basic, though perfectly adequate storage room (turned function room) at Naitiri Dairy, in North Bungoma. The meeting was punctuated with the occasional mooing of cows who were wandering happily around outside.

Miguel led the meeting. There was a packed agenda, though the main purpose was to introduce the Franchisees to the newly improved, Sunny Money 'Ravi' product, and another lamp developed by Barefoot Power, the 'Firefly'.

Ravi versus Firefly
The two products are quite different - serving a more diverse market. The Firefly comes fully (solar) charged and has a tiny 1.5W panel included. It has a flexible head and provides incredibly bright, brilliant white light from its 12 LED bulbs. The Firefly (below) also has a hook, allowing the user to hang it up - to light an entire room. The Ravi, has a fully integrated phone-charging and lighting facility. It requires 24 hours worth of charging from its 1.5W panel. This is the first fully-branded Sunny Money product. These products are sold for 1800 KSH (around £14) as an introductory price.

The franchisees were delighted with the new products and especially that their feedback had been fed into this new improved model.

I led a small focus discussion with Romonah and Maximillar. Their first reaction to the Ravi was very positive. They were especially impressed by the instruction manual, as they say their customers need instructions to be as clear as possible.

Having been selling Sunny Money products for a year now, I was keen to hear from Romonah and Maximillar about any issues they'd come across and the kinds of feedback or questions that their customers had.

ABOVE: The Sunny Money Ravi.

"My customers are often very surprised by the size of the solar panel. Many don't believe that so much light can be produced from such a small panel" Romonah told me.

"They are also pleasantly surprised when you tell them that the product has a one year warrantee. This is so rare. Customers want to know that they are getting a good service and that the product is not just going to break or run out of power like others they've used. With Sunny Money, we are giving them a quality product that is reliable" Romonah told me with her signature smile.

A leading figure
Romonah's strategy is to target teachers, as this increases her chances of making a sale. Unlike many other professions in Kenya, teachers have a stable salary. They are also in a fixed location so there is less travelling required for her and she can meet with several at a time. Selling products after dark also has a strong impact - giving customers a chance to see the true capabilities of the product.

"My customers are always very excited when they see Sunny Money products".

Romonah, who is a very prominant figure in her community, is also determined to be a role model to other women and young girls:

"By being a franchisee I hope to show other women that you don't have to stay at home and be a home-maker or just cook and bear children. You can have an income which improves your family's quality of life, and helps the wider community too".

Romonah, meeting some customers.

You can help our franchisees to help their family and communities to make savings, reduce their reliance on kerosene and improve their health and life quality. Please support SolarAid today.

Bob Kokonya first came across SolarAid a year ago. Since then, his life has changed. Bob and his family used to rely completely on tin lamps for lighting their small home. These lamps are a very basic and lethal alternative to the more developed, though still highly polluting kerosene lantern.

Tin lamps are even worse than the kerosene lantern. They produce an exposed flame and burn through kerosene at a staggering rate - half a litre a day to be exact. That's a lot of fossil fuel burning, and would cost Bob 1800KSh each month - around £15.

Bob told me that when they used to burn tin lamps every night all his family's nostrils would be blackened by the morning. "The house was very smoky, we were coughing all the time". Bob has three children under the age of nine - Judy, Eliza and Wenslas. Just imagining the smoke entering their young lungs in such a poorly ventilated house is a sobering prospect. More sobering still is the tragic story that Bob told me about his neighbours who lost four children because of an overturned tin lamp that exploded and caught fire to their home.

Solar in demand
"People in my community really want to acquire solar. Around 50 families out of the 150 in my community are already using these solar products. And those who don't have them are yearning for them".

Bob knows, more than most, how convenient and economical solar energy is. It has made a big difference to him and his family; "In my daily life, I have seen a huge change. When I was buying kerosene and using tin lamps, I would struggle with providing my family with basic needs. 70% of my income was spent on kerosene and charging my mobile phone. I could not afford to make any savings and I could only afford to buy bread once a month. Now I can afford bread daily!"

Alarmingly, an enormous 90% of rural households in Kenya use these tin lamps over the kerosene lantern. And the average home would need four tin lamps to light it effectively. This means two litres of kerosene burning each night.

And with the price of kerosene constantly fluctuating it makes it hard to budget for.

"Solar is a good answer and I know that the demand is very high. There is a huge market there. I would be happy if very soon I see the Ravi lamps in shops instead of the tin lamps!"

Bob holds his now redundant tin lamp and his new SolarAid 'Ravi' light.

As well as the obvious health and financial benefits, Bob and his family are happier and now enjoy a better quality of life:

"I feel a lot safer for my family. I am comfortable with my small children walking around and I don't live in fear that they will knock over a naked flame. I am very pleased to see the end of those tin lamps. I haven't had to buy kerosene since February 2009!"

Please help Bob's community and millions of other Kenyans to gain access to clean and renewable technology, helping to improve health and quality of life.

You can watch a short film featuring Bob talking about the health and financial benefits to solar by clicking here.

ABOVE: Bob's three year old daughter, Eliza. Photo by Brad Bell.

We parked the Solar Roller in the heart of Makunga village to set up SolarAid Kenya's third solar cinema film showing. This has become something of a community event in the North Bungoma district. And judging by the huge crowd that had gathered in eager anticipation, word had got around.

Miguel sits in the Solar Roller watching the crowd gather for the solar cinema, Makunga.

As Miguel, Hudson, Moses and Brad set up the system (comprising a simple white sheet for the screen, a projector and speakers) SolarAid volunteer Charlotte and I entertained a fast-growing crowd of excitable children with a selection of solar-powered toys. Our young audience looked on in amazement as the toys started moving with exposure to direct sunlight.

Children play with the solar-powered helicopter. Makunga Village.

Why Solar Cinema?
The purpose of the solar cinema is two-fold. Firstly, to offer the community a tangible demonstration of solar energy in action; helping generate an interest in solar as a solution to rural Kenya's energy needs. The entire spectacle is, after all, powered by the sun - with 120W panels on the roof charging up the 4V's worth of batteries in the back that power the projector and laptop. So, as the Solar Roller rolls down the dusty, sun-drenched roads of Kenya it is literally harnessing the sun's rays.

Secondly, the solar cinema brings the community together, offering a social event where young and old alike can meet and share something unique. The delight here at Makunga was clear. Situated in a particularly poor region of North Bungoma the cinema seemed to offer light relief to what, for many, was likely another day of challenges.

Moses Mutai, one of SolarAid's star Sunny Money franchisees and resident of Makunga, told me: "It's so great to see everyone enjoying this experience together. It doesn't take a lot here to see the sense of community". And the crowd was certainly receptive. Many had never seen moving image before, let alone a Hollywood blockbuster.

Watching the action on the screen. Photo © Chris Harris/ The Times.

Sunny Money Moses
As the crowd settled down, transfixed by the action unfolding on the screen, I chatted to Moses about being a Sunny Money franchisee. Last year, Moses sold 150 microsolar products. His strategy is to visit churches and schools within his area, offering demonstrations, in the hope that his audiences will then tell even more friends and family about the amazing solar lights.

Moses is friendly and very charismatic, so selling the products suits him well.
"I like meeting new people and telling them about the products, seeing their interest. I explain that these products can change their lives."
He's also a good marketer. The large crowd at the solar cinema was mainly due to his spreading the word and the adverts he posted up around the community:

Moses is clearly very satisfied with being a Sunny Money franchisee. He takes great pride in bringing light to his community and offering people a practical solution to a problem he knows about only too well. Before being a franchisee, Moses relied on his farming for income. Now he is a lot more comfortable financially:

"Life has improved so much for me and my family. I want to help other people in Kenya improve their lives too!"

It seemed poignant that the first school I visited in Kenya was one whose need for solar was so clear. As we pulled up at Mukuyuni Secondary School, students spilled excitedly out of their classrooms to greet the Solar Roller and its human cargo.

There are 360 students at Mukuyuni, mainly girls, aged between 11 and 18 years. The average pass rate is B+, so there are clearly some bright sparks here. But there is something holding this school back from being really successful.

Pupils at Mukuyuni Secondary School. Photo: Charlotte Webster.

The school is connected to the grid. There is light in some offices but most of the classrooms and all dormitories are without any light. The responsibility of lighting the classrooms falls upon the individual teachers. If they require anything brighter than the daylight that spills in through the windows, teachers must buy kerosene for the lanterns out of their own pocket. Many of the teachers here are volunteers, so paying for kerosene is certainly not easy.

Dim light: most of the classrooms at Mukuyuni have no power. Photo: Charlotte Webster.

We met with the school's Vice Principal who told us that the power supply is very unreliable. On average, the school will experience total black out at least twice a week. This is not only frustrating but also pretty dangerous. Imagine several hundred students finishing work, diligently trying to squeeze in extra study hours or even get ready for bed in total darkness. The only alternative until now has been candles or kerosene lanterns. Pretty hazardous. As with many schools across Africa, lanterns are forbidden inside the dormitories at Mukuyuni (we spotted one surreptitiously hidden under a bed). There is clearly a hunger for after-dark study here.

The school's power source is hydro-electricity so when the rains are heavy, blackouts are more frequent due to power surges. The energy bills are cripplingly - the average bill is around 12,000KSH (£100) per month. And this is on top of wood for cooking (the school buys around 60,000 tonnes worth of wood each year) and kerosene for lanterns.

Miguel went through the application process with the Vice Principal. He explained that SolarAid would require only a 10% contribution to the whole solar lighting system - which we calculated to be, all in, around 45,000KSH. That's about £360 - just three month's worth of electricity bills. And better than that, the school can pay their contribution over a period of a year or longer.

SolarAid's Miguel Ramirez talks the application process through with the Vice Principal of Mukuyuni Secondary School.

We left Mukuyuni with a good feeling. This is clearly a school with big ambitions - and next year they plan to expand in size. We left the Vice Principal with a solar application form in her hand; and a great sense of hope at the prospects of reliable, clean and safer light for her bright spark students.