We thought we would give you a little insight in to some of the ways in which we help distribute our solar lights to so many rural African communities. We asked one of the SunnyMoney team to tell us a little bit about the work they have been doing recently in helping us spread our solar projects. This is what they had to say…
SunnyMoney at the Green Expo, Zambia – April 2013
Hi everyone. My name is Claire Arthurs. I’ve been a marketing volunteer at SunnyMoney Zambia, the non-profit trading arm of international charity SolarAid, for the last three months. I’ve been working on marketing planning for our Schools Campaign (where we work with local schools to help educate and distribute our solar lights), follow-up sales and learning about how we work with retailers to help us get more lights to more people across Zambia.
Recently the SunnyMoney Zambia team returned to the world of exhibitions for The Green Expo at Lusaka’s National Museum for the second time. The Green Expo is about promoting sustainability in Zambia to show that green living can be ‘cool and fun’. So, we simply had to be there!
Visitors to the expo were mostly the expat community, with many of them working for NGOs, so our aim was; 1) To sell our fabulous lights 2) To find potential partnership opportunities to broaden our reach in Zambia and 3) To increase awareness of our brand, what we do, and the impact of bringing solar energy to rural communities.
In the run up to the expo we invited fellow sustainable enthusiasts to visit us at the show so we could let them know about our special expo discounts. We sold three PowerPack 5W systems and had a few other calls and visitors in response to our invitations, so it was already worth our while and we’ll definitely do it again.
In return for our pre-expo invitations, which also helped to promote the show, the organisers gave us the chance to be interviewed by Movie TV, a local Zambian station, which was aired on Saturday night. We’re trying to get hold of the interview clip!
We also had a prize draw to win a free d.light S2 as an incentive for visitors to leave their details with us. We will follow up the interested parties with news about new products/light deliveries/friendly reminders of where to find us etc.
The show itself was actually a bit quieter than we had hoped overall, but the visitors we spoke to were all very interested in SunnyMoney’s work and impressed by our products. Other solar companies (for profit) were also exhibiting (Muhanya Solar, Solar Zuwa, SunPower) so it was important for us to have a presence and show why we are different. We secured a TV interview, an opportunity to advertise on a Zambian online business directory for free and other potential sales leads (fingers crossed). We also had the privilege of talking about our schools programme to influential people like the Vice President’s wife, Charlotte Scott, and deputy director of the UN in Zambia, so feel that we sufficiently made our mark.
Thanks to everyone who helped with preparations and manning the stand!
Claire Arthurs
If you would like any further information about SunnyMoney, our non-profit trading arm, you can visit their website by clicking here.