Sunnymoney micro-franchise project
An initiative that trains and supports local women entrepreneurs. It creates opportunities for employment and for distribution of micro-solar products to benefit communities, leading to increased education and health standards as well as income savings of up to 70%. The project utilises micro-franchising together with the promotion of renewable energy.
About You
Section 1: About You
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Organization Name
SolarAid
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+44 (0)2072780400
Organization Address
Unit2 Third Floor, Pride Court, 80-82 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PF
Organization Country
United Kingdom, LND
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has this organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Your idea
Name Your Project
Sunnymoney micro-franchise project
Describe Your Idea
An initiative that trains and supports local women entrepreneurs. It creates opportunities for employment and for distribution of micro-solar products to benefit communities, leading to increased education and health standards as well as income savings of up to 70%. The project utilises micro-franchising together with the promotion of renewable energy.
Country your work focuses on
Kenya, WE
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
We believe that the best way to fight poverty is to create jobs and businesses for people to generate income. We seek to ensure that at least half our entrepreneurs (and beneficiaries) are women. As wage earners, women entrepreneurs become empowered members of the community. Teaming up with The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women to train our growing network of female solar entrepreneurs in East Africa will ensure gender parity; which is central to SolarAid’s approach.
We are also unique in the way we provide business and marketing training so that the franchisees can set up businesses and generate an independent income from the sale of sunnymoney products. We have been awarded Gold Standard accreditation, allowing us to generate carbon credits from our work in reducing carbon emissions in these projects.
The programme is designed to establish a widespread, sustainable network to off-grid rural Africa through which SolarAid is able to pursue the project aim of distributing affordable micro-solar lighting and energy solutions to replace the inefficient, expensive and polluting alternatives currently in place, such as kerosene. The reduction in the use of toxic fuels will improve the health of women and children at home and dramatically reduce fuel costs. Indeed, we believe by promoting renewable energy we are actively working towards the elimination of global poverty and taking a positive step in the reduction of CO2 emissions. It is the bringing together of functionality, health benefits, education and empowerment that makes sunnymoney unique.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Tell us about the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
It is estimated that in Africa there are between 100 to 200 million kerosene lamps for a population of just under one billion. Because of time spent at home, it is women and children who are most exposed to the polluting fumes emitted by burning kerosene fuel to light these lamps.
Kerosene-related diseases have serious implications, putting strain on family health and therefore income. The World Bank estimates that 780 million women and children breathing kerosene particulates inhale the equivalent of smoke from two packs of cigarettes a day (according to the World Development Report, 1992). Indeed, acute lower respiratory infections are the chief cause of death in children in developing countries. Fumes from kerosene lamps in poorly ventilated houses are a serious health problem but a necessary alternative where electric light is unavailable.
The replacement of a typical kerosene-burning lamp with a renewable energy-based sunnymoney product will eliminate CO2 emissions associated with the combustion of kerosene, which average one tonne of CO2 over seven years or four litres of kerosene per month (SolarAid research, 2009). Across the continent, that’s hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2.
One family SolarAid knows of in North Bungoma in the Western Province of Kenya recently lost four children to a fire that was started by an overturned lamp. With no lethally exposed flame, and with bright LED bulbs as a replacement, sunnymoney lighting products are a much safer - and brighter - alternative to these lamps.
Access to good lighting is also crucial for education, gender empowerment and safety. By working as a sunnymoney franchisee, women gain increased income, enabling greater discretionary spending on dietary provisions, school fees and medical costs for their family. Moreover, sunnymoney consumers benefit from an increase in discretionary spending from ongoing savings of up to 70% of income, which would previously have been spent on kerosene fuel for lighting, mobile phone charging and batteries. Women franchisees also develop education, marketing and business skills as part of their training.
Problem: Describe the primary problem(s) that your innovation is addressing
Sunnymoney is addressing the problem of gender inequality in rural Africa and seeking to empower women as entrepreneurs. Our sunnymoney programme provides the business and marketing skills necessary for women to be important and prominent figures of their community. This challenges existing preconceptions of women as home-makers and child-bearers solely.
Gender inequality means that women are not adequately represented in political and economic ventures. Sunnymoney micro-franchising creates an economic base which helps bolster their local economy and society and results in greater opportunity to be represented as socially, politically and culturally equal to men.
SolarAid is also working with rural African nations to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals by utilising solar products in everyday life. Cultural infrastructure will improve as women actively pursue a better role for themselves in their community. Another consequence is that women franchisees will be positively addressing climate change and health reform, by reducing reliance on kerosene lamps.
Actions: Describe the steps that you are taking to make your innovation a success. What might prevent that success?
To ensure success, the project activities will comprise the followings:
•Working with local partners, including traditional community authorities, local government and church groups to identify appropriate geographical areas and potential franchisees.
•Training selected entrepreneurs in relevant solar technology, business, and financial management either directly or via third-party partners.
•Introducing the entrepreneurs to a suitable micro-finance partner as appropriate, in order to obtain a start-up business loan.
•Purchasing solar-powered products from manufacturer/supplier.
•Warehousing, transporting and distributing products to the entrepreneur.
•Where appropriate, providing an initial “demo” or “starter” kit.
•Marketing and training to assist entrepreneurs in developing their business and generating local interest.
•Monitoring the objectives and improving the sunnymoney model where identified.
•Evaluating Gold Standard Carbon Credit generation.
Problems
•Gender prejudice may hinder women’s entrepreneurial efforts to leave the home and generate an independent income. It often takes courage for women to come forth and apply.
•Lack of confidence – new challenges associated with becoming a sunnymoney franchisee can appear daunting to some. However, we provide the necessary support and encourage potential entrepreneurs to fulfil their potential.
•Time constraints. Perpetually difficult living conditions sometimes mean that franchisees don’t find the time to advertise and sell their products.
•Environment. Rural roads often hinder distribution making it difficult for SolarAid to supply franchisees with micro-solar products.
Results: Describe the expected results of these actions over the next three years. Please address each year separately, if possible
Year One
To train women entrepreneurs and develop their business management skills. Our female entrepreneurs will be able to sell, repair and market micro-solar devices to the local community in order to improve livelihood for themselves and their families. The community will be responsible for electing entrepreneurs and will therefore respect the women as valued members of the community.
Micro-solar devices in schools will have an immediate impact on education levels as students are able to learn after dark, both at school and in their homes. Consequently the health of women and children is improved as the toxic effect of harmful kerosene lanterns in the home is reduced.
Year two
Our second year of operations is one of evaluation. We strive for poverty reduction: we want women franchisees to have moved out of the informal economy into the mainstream economy, so that they have reliable income, pay taxes, can support their wider family and the economic development of the continent. Franchisees will have established businesses that will continue to grow sustainably and effectively in the short and long term. Women entrepreneurs will be developing their own sustainable solutions appropriate to their local needs.
Year Three
Expansion and marketing. By year three we hope the model will be self-sustaining. We will have established solar products that are developed and marketed using the feedback from our women franchisees and their customers. Indeed the community as a whole will have grown both literally and economically as sunnymoney helps create sustainable businesses.
The entrepreneurs’ income can treble in this time and is spent on better health, food and education: for example purchasing stationary for their children and sending them to secondary school.
With a thorough understanding of energy systems and needs, women might now have the opportunity to start lobbying their local and national government for more resources in these areas. As a consequence, an opportunity to represent their gender on a political platform occurs.
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your innovation seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
If your innovation seeks to impact public policy, how?
By training women franchisees we are encouraging a huge demographic to earn money and support the wider economy. The more women who receive an income, the greater exposure they gain and the bigger the financial reward. It is hoped businesses will understand the value and benefits of employing women, and consequently grant further opportunities to do so. The financial benefits will encourage economic stability across the regions.
It is also hoped that female entrepreneurialism will have an impact on policy with regards to land ownership. Land is usually inherited by a male sibling or even by the State. By promoting entrepreneurialism among women we are challenging preconceptions of women as home-makers so that eventually they too might have land ownership rights.
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
Does your organization have a board of directors or an advisory board?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how partnerships could be critical to the success of your innovation
Our partnerships are a hugely important aspect to operations as we scale up and empower women through our business model.
Key partners include The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. The Foundation works to strengthen the capacity of women entrepreneurs in countries where they lack equal opportunities, and to unlock the economic potential of women where the need for access to energy is greatest.
The Micro Loan Foundation is a micro-finance institution that promotes grassroots micro-finance activities through micro-loans which allow franchisees to initially establish their businesses. They are an internationally registered NGO and micro-finance institution. In Malawi, for example, the MLF has been providing small loans, business training, and continued guidance to groups of women since 2002. This partnership links franchisees with a proven full loan cycle record to the sunnymoney franchise model. MLF will then provide the franchisees with small start-up loans as working capital to purchase initial products to sell.
Gold Standard Carbon Credits are a high-standard and rigorous ethical supplier of carbon credits. SolarAid has chosen to work with GS to reflect and underline the quality of sunnymoney’s contribution to reducing carbon emissions, and to maximise the value of carbon credits generated under the programme. SolarAid has recently attained the first-ever Gold Standard carbon credits for Sub-Saharan Africa. Such credits are critical as we seek to combat climate change.
We would like to learn more about how your initiative is financially supported. Please explain your business plan/revenue model
SolarAid seeks to promote a self-sustaining environment for our women entrepreneurs using a micro-franchising model as a basis to generate revenue through the sale of sunnymoney products. The sunnymoney business model is designed to treat each geographic area as a separate starting point, with a view to establishing a local franchise-based entrepreneur. These entrepreneurs work with the local community and partner organisations to create a local micro-business and help fund expansion respectively.
The sunnymoney programme has been designed to establish a sustainable network in order to support the local franchisee as well as product users and maintain the distribution network. The programme has been extensively modelled and is designed to reach a phase of self-sufficiency whereby the scale of the network enables the generated income to support both the material costs and the fixed overheads of the network by the end of the third year.
SolarAid envisages that, once expansion has achieved a scale in excess of the critical size, the programme will be able to maintain its existing operations and allow limited expansion through the reinvestment of its generated revenue arising from the existing network. An increased expansion rate will be available either through additional grants or other funding sources from SolarAid or other external bodies. This will be the culmination of two to three years of work in our action plan. Currently we rely on grants and donations from partners such as Barclays and Vodafone with additional income expected to be generated through the sale of carbon credits.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
For years I’ve wanted to set up an international organisation that brings together the fights against climate change and global poverty. I’d already co-founded a medical charity (The AKU Society) to find a cure for the rare genetic disease affecting my two children and wanted to do a similar thing in the international sector. I was also just finishing my PhD on Make Poverty History, which I’d done in my spare time while working full time as Director of Communications at Progressio, an international development agency.
When I found out that Solarcentury was looking for someone to set up SolarAid, I knew that was my calling. Originally, it was just me, working from home, paid 3 days/week, but easily working 12 hours/day and 7 days/week, with just enough funding to last six months. It was difficult, with some major highs and some major lows, but we managed to secure some more funding and get some projects off the ground, with volunteer support from Solarcentury.
Just three years later, SolarAid is now a £2m organisation, with more than 20 staff, working in four countries in Africa and with an emerging programme in South America. We’ve developed new products, launched a micro-franchise under the brand name sunnymoney, recruited hundreds of franchisees, sold over 10,000 products, and raised considerable support and enthusiasm.
Tell us about the person—the social innovator—behind this idea.
Nick Sireau, Executive Director and Ashoka Fellow (since February 2010) started out in financial journalism, working for the think tank Independent Economic Analysis (IDEA) and newswire Bridge News (now part of Reuters). He worked in charity communications and fundraising for mainline church charity CWM and for international development agency Progressio as Director of Communications. He has travelled widely the world over and recently finished his PhD on the social psychology of Make Poverty History's communications and marketing. He is also co-founder and Chairman of the AKU Society, a medical charity that works in partnership with the Royal Liverpool University Hospital to find a cure for AKU, a rare genetic disease affecting his two sons. He is also a non-executive Director of GenSeq, a bioinformatics company that carries out gene sequencing.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Personal contact at Changemakers
If through another source, please provide the information
ICRW
Does your project address any of the following barriers to women’s technology access and use?
Women’s time poverty, Economic or institutional constraints.
If you checked any of the boxes above, please explain how.
Our plan is to change the representation of women in rural Africa so that they can gain gender equality as entrepreneurs and business women. In economic terms, by working with micro-finance institutions and using our micro-franchise model, sunnymoney will provide a foundation for women to build their own businesses and generate sales to make revenue. This self-sufficient business incorporates the local community and encourages participants to develop their own sustainable solutions, appropriate to their local needs, through a low-tech, open-source approach to technology that teaches them to build and repair solar products. This model hopes to provide a solution to the expenditure women and their families have when using kerosene for lighting. The average rural household in Africa spends 20 per cent of its income on kerosene for lighting, batteries for radios and charging their mobile phones. This cost will be reduced significantly with sunnymoney products.
Our model will help to move entrepreneurs out of the informal economy into the mainstream economy, so that they have reliable income, pay taxes, can support their wider family and support the economic development of the continent.
Education is expensive in parts of rural Africa and many children are unable to attend secondary school because their parents cannot afford the fees. The savings made on energy by using sunnymoney products will give parents a better opportunity for their children to learn. Schools who use sunnymoney products will spend less on diesel for generators or kerosene for lanterns, so fees are reduced, and school becomes more accessible to poorer families.
Does your project involve women in one or more of the following stages of the technology lifecycle? Identification of the problem the technology will solve:
Technology design, Technology supply and distribution.
If you checked any of the boxes above, please explain how you will ensure women’s involvement in each relevant phase of the technology lifecycle.
We work with local communities to rigorously recruit and train women micro-franchisees, with only the best being selected for the franchise, and with strict targets for sales. We support them with access to a supply chain, marketing and branding training.
After interviewing candidates and testing them for honesty, integrity, entrepreneurial flair, sales ability and business acumen, successful franchisees receive training in sales and marketing and are taught to repair the products if there are any problems. Franchisees are then in a position to help develop a plan, taking into consideration the local market and locally available resources, for how their micro-business will operate sustainably in the months and years ahead. Franchisees assist in identifying local sources for the majority of the materials used in assembling the panels. Assistance will be provided by SolarAid in the form of encouragement (to explore and develop their ideas), access to phones and access to transport.
If women are a focus of your project, how did this focus evolve?
The project focused on women from its conception..
Which type of women will your project reach directly?
Rural, Peri-urban, Low income.
In what ways does your project team/leadership involve women?
The core project team includes women from developing countries..
Has your organization formed any new partnerships in response to this challenge? If so, with what type/s of organization/s?
Multilateral/bilateral, Non-profit/NGO/community-based organization, For-profit, Government, Women's organization, Other.
Has your project leadership had prior experience with the following?
Working with women, Working with technologies, Working to increase women's economic empowerment through technology, Working on innovation.
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| A Kenyan franchisee demonstrates a micro-solar product to a happy customer. | 789.18 KB |
| A customer purchasing a micro-solar panel. | 539.06 KB |
