Solar project to-do list

I thought that to give readers back home a better idea of what Annie and I are actually doing here I'd post my to-do-list and along the way articulate for my own benefit some of the challenges we're facing. Hopefully from this I can better understand what our priorities should be for the remaining 10 weeks.


Update BOM (Bill of Materials) with new frame cost
Every solar panel we sell is enclosed in a protective wood frame. The frames are fairly simple but do require some detailed carpentry work. We've outsourced their production to a fundi (a generic kiswahili word for some sort of skilled craftsperson, everything from electricions to seamstresses). Turns out I was working from the old price when I developed the bill of materials. Now the frames are about 500 Tsh (US$0.45) more expensive. We really should develop an in-house production system, and it seems like that was something that Gary was working on before he had to leave. We have a surplus of labor in the solar workshop, so it is just a matter of figuring out how to make these things, training everyone and then following up with strict quality control. The frames are the third most expensive component after the solar glass and labor, but because we are only using 25%-40% of our labor potential (very low efficiency) we could really drive down the cost.

Reply Gary report
I finally got the email address of my predessessor after only two months of asking. Turns out he wrote a pretty extensive report and summary of his work, which he kindly emailed to me before Christmas. Some of the things he was working on are solved now, such as low cost lighting, but others I had no idea existed, such as the extensive troubles with making plastic frames in house (probably why we now use wood), how the current quality control system was implemented, etc. I'm also going to print out his report and put it in the solar folder for Destori, the Tanzanian man Neema is hiring with funding from Solar Aid to replace Annie and me.

Create Instructions
One nagging thing I've been meaning to finish for almost two months is a set of printed instructions in kiswahili and english. Nothing we're doing is complicated, but it is not intiuitive especially for people without much exposure to electrical gadgets. We need to translate the instructions, take some instructional photos, test them out on a couple people and get them printed.

Verify functioning of 1W panel w/ Kobe
Paul has complained a couple times that his one watt panel does not work with the kobe (turtle) universal phone charger. The 2W panel works great, but it would be quite unfortunate if the 1W panel didn't supply enough current for the charging circuitry. There are a couple alternative problems, such as maybe Paul isn't putting his panel in direct sunlight, maybe the sunlight in the rainy season is not sufficient, or maybe his charger is a different design. The problem with buying really cheap chinese electronics on the street is that you never know what is going to be inside the box. I've bought 3 or 4 regular wall AC powered phone chargers on the street out of curiosity (they cost maybe two bucks each) and each one has been curiously designed in conflict with my limited knowledge of the laws of electronics. A one diode bridge rectifier? The components never match the PCB silk screen layout either, showing that the design has been changed since it was first designed, perhaps dependent on the price and availablity of components. Really makes you appreciate things like CE and UL certification.

Price Sheet
I'm kind of proud of our current price sheet, it looks straight out of a catalog page with pretty pictures and everything. But it is still in English and our prices are going up slightly next week so it's in need of an update. We also need to verify my translation of the wholesale price sheet.

Duka Project
We are trying to expand our sales network to the point that every resident of the Iringa region is within a 500 Tsh (US$0.45) public mini-bus ride of buying our products. Radio shack has apparently reached the point where something like 90% of the people in the US are within 7 miles of one of their stores. They're still working on the whole selling things people need or want part, but you have to admire the market penetration. We hope that by expanding into the rural areas we can introduce our products to a wider audience beyond Iringa city limits and also maintain people's attention for the month or two they will need to save to buy, say, a light set. To do this we have applied for a interest-free loan on behalf of 12 yet unknown small shops (called duka in kiswahili) to allow them to borrown 160,000 Tsh (US$140) for 20 months. This start up capital would finance the purchase of initial inventory.

To encourage accountability Andy has opted to identify shops through existing contacts within the Diocese. I need to identify who these contacts are and the encourage Andy to move ahead in identifying shopkeepers. Then we will organize some sort of introduction and training, perhaps a seminar in Iringa or maybe one-on-one with each shop. Either my kiswahili needs to improve dramaticaly or I need to train Andy or another fluent speaker in how to give such a session.

We also need to design some secure bump proof way of transporting panels to minimize breakage, maybe adapt a cardboard box. It would be good if each shop gets a cusioned reuseable transport box. The fairly narrow profit margin and the high cost means that one broken panel would destroy the profit of 5 sales.

This Duka project will be our major effort over the next 10 weeks, yet without careful timing and intensive management it is unlikely that it will get off the ground before we leave.

Travelling Sales people
The two solar projects in Kenya have had a great deal of success using travelling sales people. One barrier to the success of that model around Iringa is our lose population density. Where one person on foot or a bicycle can reach thousands of people in Mombassa or Nairobi they would be lucky to reach more than a few hundred outside of Iringa. That said, there are successfull traveling sales people in the district that we should be able to partner with.

Train Destori
Our replacement as is a man named Destori, who I haven't met yet but who is apparently really great and well organized. He is graduating from a local university in a month and will step in as the full time solar manager. We need to make sure he is 100 percent up to speed by the time we leave.

..... So it looks like we'll be busy for the next 10 weeks.