Miguel: October 2009 Archives

It's all go in Kenya!

Following 12 weeks of product testing in rural communities, we've just launched an exciting new solar product which offers people much improved lighting and reliable phone charging. The product is housed in a locally made canvas bag, designed by Martin who leads a small team of tailors in Nakuru.

His team are now busy making bags to meet growing demand!

Martin (above on the right) fitting the new solar products into his tailor made bags.

The solar industry is fast moving with on-going technical advances. So, as a pioneering organisation we work hard to ensure we are always keeping track of new product developments so we can bring these to where they are needed.

Our franchisees, together with people living across Kenya (who have been involved in the tests) have given the new product a resounding vote of confidence, urging us to bring them into the market as soon as we can.

The good news is that that time is now, with the first sales taking place this week in North Bongoma.

Good news for solar. Good news for rural Kenya. Good news for carbon reduction and bad news for kerosene sales!

Romonah and Benson, two of SolarAid's franchisees show off the new products before going out to sell.

We're excited to announce that the Kenya team have just taken delivery of 500 units of our new and improved microsolar product - the Kadzuwa 1000! (Kadzuwa means 'little sun' in Chichewa, a language used widely in Malawi, where the product was first developed).

With harvest time upon us in Kenya we anticipate an increase in seasonal income. We try to adhere to the seasonal patterns of income and so we forecast lower sales figures of microsolar products during the hungry season and higher sales during the harvest season.

SolarChill update
In our last blog, we told you about an exciting new partnership with SolarChill. We're very pleased to announce that the first SolarChill fridge has now been installed in a clinic in Mahuru Bay. This is a pilot testing phase but we hope to be implementing more solar fridges in clinics across Kenya. During this pilot stage we'll be looking in particular at how effective the fridge is, how user-friendly it is and we'll also consider any space issues within the fridge itself. Ultimately we'd like to replace all generator-powered fridges with SolarChill fridges. We'll be prioritising clinics that currently have little or no supplies and resources. Having access to refrigeration opens up many possibilities to these rural services, storing vaccinations and blood samples being just two examples.

Finally, I'll soon be arriving in Nairobi for the start of an extended period in Kenya and Zambia, and so I'll have more updates from the field soon.

Until then!
Miguel