Barefoot power

Barefoot Power offers a range of 0.5-10W home lighting kits solar or rechargeable, to displace kerosene lamps. 300 million households spend around $1/week on kerosene, and this $15 billion/year is at least 10 times what the World Bank and governments spend on rural electrification, so these products must be affordable to divert this cash expenditure to micro energy assets. We have proven this to be viable in Uganda, Papua New Guinea and many other countries, and offer free additional services to assist transforming these markets.

Poverty reduction will be realized through kerosene and battery savings, light for evening cottage industry products, and low cost piggy-backing of other services, such as refrigeration for health, evening literacy classes, water purification and IT wireless services.

We have organized 20-30 factories in China to supply these products, and can accept customer requests to modify or customize designs if required. We work together with customers and World Bank planners to develop and refine designs that are appropriate for village electrification, and independent studies have demonstrated our products are achieving an excellent cost/quality balance. Custom designs can be considered. Plug and play wiring with no junction boxes allows installation by 'unskilled' technicians, avoiding a need for mass training of installers.

Over 150 different products are consolidated into 10-20 different kits in our warehouse in China, and 20-foot containers are sent to target markets. We have several partners with warehouses in place, our own subsidiary in Uganda where we train our own micro energy entrepreneurs, and several joint ventures are in the pipeline, with very experienced partners. We assist hands-on to develop the distribution network and build up sales, often with the help of volunteer-sending agencies like Engineers / MBAs without Borders.

We are selling to importers who are interested in the rural energy market, microfinance organizations who are interested in energy lending, and non-profit organizations. We are shipping to 10-20 countries now, and expect to reach 20-30 countries by 2010. Occaisonally we establish our own subsidiary, like in Uganda. These importing partners sell to regional small hardware stores, solar companies and rural entrepreneurs, who then onsell to individuals.

The incumbent are kerosene distributors and oil companies. Kerosene sold for lighting only makes up 10% of a rural gas stations' income, and oil companies can sell kerosene to airlines if none are sold to the poor in the future, so there will be little resistance there. When we started, few competitors like our company existed, but now, a few are emerging, from China, India and Western countries. Western competitors include social entrepreneurs like us, and big corporates like Philips.

We generally have a wider range of products than Western competitors and stronger understanding/commitment to building businesses than Chinese competitors. We are not aiming for high initial market share, only 1-5 million households of 300 million lacking electricity, so about 1%. We have very strong links with the microfinance industry, and have established a 4 year track record of committed effort and innovation.

The products are not designed from scratch and then brought to China to be quickly copied (eg. Solio). We have looked at mass produced products in the bottom-of-pyramid markets within China, and adapted many products found there, improving basic designs to be more village-appropriate. This has resulted in minimal setup cost in avoided moulding and engineering expenses, and has allowed us to test many ideas in the market, and incorporate field feedback. Our team has very low salaries and high commitment, and we have an impressive group of partners and investors that can help our business grow, and the business of our customers.

We have a low cost market entry model that mimimizes the investment at risk of new partners. We can send small shipments to small customers, but have large factory partners that can produce up 5 million lamps per year, if required. Hence, we are able to grow small market testing shipments into multiple container deliveries in a short time, and offer additional free services to assist rapid scale-up. Containers have reached about 5 countries to date and market entry is occurring in 15-20 countries, seeding future revenue growth. Over time, we will diversify from our focus on lighting now, to selling of other products.

Commitment and determination to the point insanity, and a 10 year history in renewable energy and international development. Our management team has a wide range of engineering and non-technical skills, and we have a host of advisors and supporters that fill in the gaps.

80 now, 40-50 in the future (am I dreaming?)

Household and people being burnt from spilled kerosene lanterns will decrease, improving household safety, and lighting levels will decrease eye strain. Skills in small power station operation will be developed, including valuable track records established in revenue collection, which will be essential for expanding the power system to a mini grid. Converting all kerosene lighting (1 L/week/house x 200,000 households in 2010 = 10,000 t kero /year) to battery charging will decrease fossil fuel use by 70%, from village generators or grids, or will be 100% eliminated as solar panels are introduced, improving the environment and dependency on imported fuels.