Solar 'groupon' for the rural poor
This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Solar 'groupon' for the rural poor.
Bennu-Solar exists to make bringing solar energy
to rural poor a piece of cake.
How exactly? ..with:
- free resources database
- free consulting
- group purchasing
Sobre ti
Sobre ti
Sobre tu organización
Nombre de la organización
Bennu Solar
Sitio web de la organización
País de la organización
Hong Kong S.A.R., China, KKT, Hong Kong
Países en donde este proyecto está creando impacto social
Edad del/la innovador/a
18-34
Género del/la innovador/a
Masculino
Tu organización es
Empresa
¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado operando la organización?
1-5 años
La información que brindes aquí será usada para llenar las partes de tu perfil que hayan sido dejadas en blanco, como intereses, organización, y sitio web. Ninguna información de contacto será hecha pública. Por favor desmarca esta casilla si no deseas que esto suceda..
Innovación
Nombre de tu iniciativa
Solar 'groupon' for the rural poor
Selecciona la fase que describa mejor el momento en el que se encuentra tu emprendimiento
Establecida (pasó las etapas anteriores y ha demostrado éxito)
¿Cuánto tiempo se lleva poniendo en práctica tu iniciativa?
Operando entre 1-5 años
La necesidad: ¿Cuál es el problema que tratas de solucionar?
There are hundreds of businesses and organizations in developing countries which are bringing solar to low-income villagers. That is great! except..
Except that when they contact a factory to buy the solar products they are viewed as small clients, and as we all know, small clients pay higher price.
So here we are in this twisted world where people in Germany can buy solar panels of higher quality at a lower cost. But for clients in Africa which need solar badly, the price is higher and the quality lower.
Why? Because they don't come with big purchasing power?
Well.. Lets see about that..
La solución: ¿Cuál es tu solución? Sé específico.
Mmm.. one small business in Kenya indeed can't place big orders and become a VIP client of a factory to enjoy top quality products at a low price.
But! how about that business in Kenya + one in Zimbabwe and Cambodia and Tanzania, and in other developing countries combined?
Well, yes. Together they represent a decent size buyer.
So that is what we do, we coordinate solar buyers in developing countries into a group, and leverage our collective purchasing power to get a better deal from the solar products factories.
At the end of the day, it is the villagers which those businesses and organizations serve that benefit from the cost reduction and the higher quality.
El Modelo: Muéstranos a través de un ejemplo específico cómo tu solución hace una diferencia, incluye tus actividades primarias
We recently completed a group purchase with businesses from Cambodia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. They told us that our group purchasing service reduced their costs by 30%, and they were also more confident in the products since we include a third party quality inspection at the factory. On top of that, they saved time because we handled the negotiation, purchasing and logistics process.
So how did we do it?
simple, these 3 companies were going to contact the factory on their own,
not knowing about each other.
But, since they learned about our service, they decided to let us handle the purchase, and we were able to bundle them together and when we approach the factory we were representing 3 buyers, making the order bigger and receiving the bulk pricing from the factory.
(http://tinyurl.com/group-purchasing)
We later got feedback from the business in Zimbabwe, he said he installed the solar system for a family living in a rural area. For the first time in their life they had electricity to power a fridge and TV!
Without the the cost reduction they wouldn't have been able to afford it.
(this kind of feedback is what keeps me going!!!)
El mercado: ¿Quiénes son tus pares y competidores? Identifica a otros que también estén trabajando para dar respuesta a las necesidades que tú abordas y en qué te diferencias de ellos. ¿Cuáles son los desafíos que estos jugadores podrían representar para tu éxito o crecimiento?
There are a couple of ways to buy solar products for use in rural areas in developing countries:
- through trading companies
- directly from the factory
The benefits for buying through a trading company is that they buy big, so they get lower prices from the factory, but they too mark up the price, and they might have certain agreements with specific suppliers, or maybe keep goods in stock, so the buyer doesn't really have access to the best product on the market at the best price.
The benefits of contacting the factory directly is that buyers can approach any factory, but the problem is that they are only representing their own purchasing power, so they don't receive the prices and quality which big buyers get.
Our coordinated group purchasing offers just the benefits.
Impacto social
Esta presentación se trata de
Qué tipo de solución/es brinda tu iniciativa para ayudar a emprendedores emergentes y pequeñas empresas a crecer y prosperar en comunidades marginadas? (seleccionar las opciones aplicables.)
Acceso a las cadenas de abastecimiento/logistica, Acceso a tecnologia, Acceso a oportunidades económicas.
¿Cuál ha sido el impacto de la solución hasta la fecha?
The income we make from the group purchasing allows us to provide free consulting and operate a free resources database.
Other people describe our impact best:
- http://tinyurl.com/free-consulting
- http://www.china-entrepreneurship.com/events/review-next-step-with-ariel...
¿Cuál es tu impacto proyectado para los próximos 1-3 años?
We can help bring solar energy to over 1 billion (very nice) villagers in developing countries who have no access to electricity.
(1 billion is not a lot, if we increase collaboration among all those who are on this mission)
Las iniciativas ganadoras presentan un plan fuerte de cómo van a alcanzar y realizar un seguimiento del crecimiento. Identifica tus metas a seis meses para el crecimiento de tu impacto
bigger awarness of the availabilty of our group purchasing service
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a las metas de seis meses.
Tarea 1
improve the free database to include product rating (here is a sample: http://bennu-solar.com/wpsite/d-light-s10/)
Tarea 2
complete this public document on solar taxes and import duties (http://tinyurl.com/solar-taxes)
Tarea 3
introduce our BennuValue verification stickers (like Sproxil - http://sproxil.com/ but for solar products)
¡Ahora piensa en grande! Identifica tu meta de impacto a 12 meses.
scale up impact
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a tu meta de impacto a 12 meses
Tarea 1
to manage villagers feeback and after-sales support platform for users of BennuValue verified products
Tarea 2
to make group purchasing a requirenment by social investors
Tarea 3
to open source the technology and design of solar products for rural areas
Historia de la fundación: Queremos saber acerca del momento en el que hiciste "¡Ajá!". Comparte la historia de dónde y cuándo el/los fundador(es) vio (vieron) el potencial de esta solución para cambiar el mundo.
I was thinking it would be nice to live on one of these beautiful South Pacific Islands,
so I googled to check living costs, and was blown away by how expensive the electricity was.
Since I was a researcher of solar technologies for big consulting companies,
I was only aware of the debates in the US and Europe on whether or not to subsidize solar,
yet, here on these islands I suddenly find out that solar is the most economic solution.
So I check a bit more, and realize that there are over 1 billion people who have no access to electricity, and for them solar is the most affordable solution.
But soon enough, I find out about the ugly truth that since buyers in these region don't place big orders, they get higher price quotes, and low quality.
By that time I'm already in touch with dozens of buyers as I was trying to learn about this market segment, and always in the background I hear this 'groupon' everywhere.
And it just came to me:
why not solar groupon?
Sostenibilidad
Cuéntanos sobre tus alianzas.
we are in constant contact with hundreds of solar businesses, organizations, investors, producers, etc.
While we have no contracts they view us as partners because of the insights and knowledge we share with them:
http://tinyurl.com/free-consulting
Por favor, pon en claro las necesidades u ofertas que hayas mencionado anteriormente y/o sugiere categorías de apoyo que no están especificadas en la lista
I'll gladly share insights, contacts and knowledge with others:
http://tinyurl.com/free-consulting
 | 39 weeks ago Yotam Ariel updated this Competition Entry. |
| 39 weeks ago Yotam Ariel submitted this idea. |