Business can make a difference

I am fortunate to have been to Africa a few times but this time was different. I spent a couple of days with Solar Aid visiting their Sunny Money operation. This is the organisation we are working with to implement phase 1 of Scotland Lights up Malawi. I spent some time in one of the more mature markets, Kenya, in a city called Eldoret. Sunny Money sells solar lights at affordable prices through a variety of different channels using donations to build the overall market, pay for product development and fund working capital. It is a social enterprise and one way of thinking of donations is that they are like the provision of the equity of the business. 

We were taken to four different vendors by the country sales manager, Lameck. We drove past the most basic, a freelance street stall, before stopping at the shop of an agent, Sara. When I say shop I should clarify that it was three different businesses sharing what was effectively a small space about the size of one of our garages. Sara's main business is selling solar lights to both general customers and schools and each month she sells about 1500 units. Her sales are equally split between men and women and the basic product retails at around $10 with a bigger model complete with phone charger adaptor at $25. These products are transformational for many Kenyan families freeing them from dependence on Kerosene. The payback between the upfront cost of a solar light is only about 6 to 7 weeks of  kerosene bills, it is a better quality of light and is much safer. I heard that living in a room lit by kerosene is like passive smoking 40 cigarettes a day.

After Sara,  we saw the next level of dealer, a shop called Highland Electronics. It was wall to wall stocked with all sorts of electrical products and solar lights were only one of these. The owner was interested in one of Sunny Money's development products. A solar powered TV! The final stop was to a supermarket which was in reality a small department store selling 1000s of different goods from school textbooks and shampoo to saucepans and, of course, solar lights. The owner is Moses Kiptanui, the famous athlete who won World championship gold medals for the 3000 metre steeplechase. When we told him we came from Edinburgh he mentioned that in the 1986 Commonwealth Games he was the second last carrier of the Queens baton before passing it to a swimmer who I assured him would have been David Wilkie. It was good to see that he is now a successful businessman in his home region and he was proud that he now employs over 70 people. He is ambitious and wants to open more stores so Tesco and Sainsburys better watch out as he is well used to clearing hurdles!

I found it  encouraging to see how solar lighting was not only changing people's lives but also stimulating grass root level economic activity. John, the operations director for the whole of Africa told me that after three years in Kenya, Sunny Money has sold around 500,000 lights and will be close to break even this year. If all goes well it should be profitable next year  which will allow Sunny Money to reduce its dependence on aid and mean it can stimulate solar in other countries. An illuminating day that shows how aid has created a business that is making a real difference. 

Sara, in front of her shop

A world class athlete, the solar aid team and yours truly.

Sent from my iPad