Empowering youth to launch sustainable businesses through local organizations
- Community development
- Green business
- Green consumerism
- Sustainable development
- Renewable energy
- Youth leadership
- Social enterprise
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Founding Story
Aneri
Patel
ENVenture
, NC, Raleigh, Wake County
, KMP, Gayaza
18-34
Female
Less than a year
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Operating for less than a year
Access to financing, Access to talent, Access to supply chains, Access to technology, Access to economic opportunity.
In 2009, the founder and another volunteer traveled to the village of Irumbai, Tamil Nadu to set up a SGV called the EcoLife Store with the Aurovile Village Action Group (AVAG). AVAG specializes in social services; business was a totally new concept for them. Yet they desired the ability to provide sustainable goods to the villagers that wanted to buy them. This store services about a target market of 90,000 households and is a focal energy access hub in the community. Sales have brought extra revenue for the AVAG, which allows them to continue their large program of activities. Notably, after Cyclone Thane devastated the area, people were able to access solar lights whereas they would have before needed dangerous kerosene. The volunteers left after only six months, and as a result, roughly 6000 products have been sold through the SGV since. Emboldened by their success in social enterprise, AVAG has planned to open up two new SGVs in neighboring villages on their own for 2013!
ENVenture will continue to map out where sustainable goods ventures have been established and identify new regions to operate. This includes expansion into new countries, with plans to grow in terms of size and operations. Impact will be quantified by the sales of sustainable goods, starting in Uganda and India. Impact will also be the number of new sales channels opened up to villages for product distribution. Qualitatively, fellows will be impacted by their experiences and can bring that challenging business mindset and experience to their future careers. The field partners will also be impacted by having additional revenue to continue their projects. Within three years, we hope to have at least five sustainable goods ventures up and running with partners in Uganda, and two in India.
The pilot sustainable goods venture: JEEP store will be launched within six months in Gayaza, Uganda
Employ an ENVenture Fellow to begin work on the JEEP store
Set up a physical store along with sales infrastructure run by Joint Energy Environment Projects to host the products for sale
Wholesale inventory from multiple distributors to stock the store
The JEEP store will be earning profit and is sustainable after 1-year
Heavy marketing towards the target villages (fliers, radio, door to door, campaigns)
Training of local staff to bring them on full-time to the project
Maintenance of all sales records, warranties, receipts, etc
Partner CBOs must provide housing, lunch, and a work transport stipend for the fellow. In return, ENVenture provides the flights, health care, visa costs, and a small living stipend for the fellow, and a seed investment loan for inventory. As a prerequisite for entering into a partnership with a CBO, the CBO must be willing to invest time, commitment, and some money to their SGV. This is important to demonstrate the sustainability of the project. Our pilot partner is Joint Energy Environment Projects in Uganda. Other partners include product manufacturers that have been vetted internationally.
We'd love to crowdsource investment for the pilot, gain media exposure, and collaborate with potential partners on the fellowship program.
Comments
ENVenture won the top prize at Tufts Energy Challenge 2013
Dear Aneri -
Thank you so much for sharing ENVenture on Changemakers. There is a tremendous need for both the products you're pushing and the economic opportunities you're creating in India and now Uganda.
As you look to Changemakers to bring more visibility to your project, I'd be really interested to learn more about the local market and demand for the lights, cook stoves and water filters you're selling.
* Within Uganda or a given region, how many people are in the need for these sorts of technologies?
* Of those, what percentage have the buying power to purchase those technologies?
* How does financing come into play, and what partners might provide would-be buyers w/ the financial services they need?
* Assuming you do spark greater demands for these goods, how is it that you'll maintain a competitive advantage over other vendors?
Looking forward to learning more! Thanks again for all your fantastic work.
Warmly,
Tim
Dear Tim,
Thank you so much for your excellent questions and interest in ENVenture!
As for the first two questions - very important market analysis questions. Our ENVenture Fellow Miriam is actually figuring this out right now with the community of Gayaza. What is the demand and what is their ability to pay? Statistics on Uganda (2002) are as follows: 75% of Ugandans use paraffin candles for lighting, 97% use firewood and charcoal for cooking. Thus the need for these low carbon technologies are extremely great.
As for buying power and financing, the price point for these products are low enough to where there is a market. In addition to retailing only high-quality products, it is equally important to provide excellent customer service and aftersales to gain the trust of the community and so locals will continue to shop at the local SGV.
As for competitive advantage, actually the hope is that by creating a market for these products, competition will occur. The market is so large, that competitors are not a threat - the goal is to bring more low carbon technologies into rural households. Creating SGVs is only one of many supply chain possibilities. ENVenture is a completely open-source model and we welcome collaboration with partners and competitors to address how we can increase adoption of these life-improving technologies.
Thanks again for your questions! I hope I was able to answer them adequately. I can share the Gayaza market analysis Miriam will provide if you are interested.
Best,
Aneri