[Stoves] What is poor?

[Xavier Brandao]

Hello,

I do believe in mass production. Local production of a local stove based on
local factors, constraints, and cooking habits has of course proven
efficient. It seems to be the most efficient model so far. But we need a
faster spreading, a worldwide spreading of stoves. It has been going too
slow. How many improved stoves have been disseminated in the world over the
last 40 years? Does someone have any statistics?
Marc talked about Coca-Cola. That's funny because I often make that
comparison, and think : how can we sell stoves like Coca-Cola bottles?
When I see how Chinese are able to sell very tiny and short-span electric
torches to the price of 25 cents of dollars (!!) on African markets, I'm
amazed at the result of what mass production and good distribution network
can achieve.

As Paul says, centralized production has its advantages, and I agree with
him on the following points:
- "coming up with some of the best designs of cook stoves for particular
forms of biomass"
Agree, we need to build upon lessons learnt, and on solid foundations.

- "that we look for countries uniquely positioned to fabricate at the most
competitive prices"
These countries could supply the regional market. For example China for
South-East Asia, Nigeria for Western Africa, etc. Each factory could produce
a design adapted to the regional market (rice husks TLUDs in Asia, charcoal
stove in Western Africa ...). Jikos demonstrated they could be sold more or
less anywhere in Africa.

- "that we employ some of the most advanced mass production techniques"
Yes, bring down costs and prices should be our obsession.

- "that we buy in large quantities to further reduce price"
Yes, see above. That will be an investment.

- "that we operate with total transparency in making known our fabrication
costs"
Yes, so people can replicate the experience.


But I do not agree on the points below:

- "that we sell at cost, or perhaps below cost, to the poor"
We should never do that, unless we want the project to stop quickly. I think
stoves should always make at least a tiny bit of profit. Otherwise we will
never find investors, people willing to run stove businesses. Never. I've
seen projects stop because of that. What if your product encounters great
success? That means great loss of money. Making profit is not a shameful
thing, it is the basis of a sound and long-lasting project. I think making
stoves should always be business oriented.


- "we ask the rich to voluntarily pay more to subsidize the sale to the
poor."
If it is mass-marketed, how can we differentiate customers? The Coca-Cola
bottle is sold at the same price to everyone.


-"that we use the highest quality materials in our fabrication"
I think that is not compatible with our objective of bringing down price. We
need a stove for everyone, ready-to-use. I want to make quality
institutional stoves, because the purchase price is high, and the product is
seen like a big investment, like a part of the kitchen. And institutions are
ready to pay a little more, and have the ability.
It is not the same logic with domestic stoves in my opinion. If we have a
quality all stainless steel stove, it will necessarily be expensive. As
Cecil pointed out, crappy stoves sell like crazy, because they are so cheap.
Let's go on the same road. Perhaps I'm being cynical, but I'm okay if the
stove dies after 1 year use. I prefer that a lot of people buy cheap 1 year
lasting stoves than a few people buy life-long stoves.
That means over the course of one year, they will save way more money with
fuel savings than they spend each time they rebuy the stove.
We must pay utmost attention to fuel savings and clean combustion, but
durability is not part of the equation in my opinion, not if it raises price
too much.

"The effort to provide good cook stoves does not have to be a money-making
endeavor."
It does, otherwise they will be no effort at all. No one will do it for
glory. A handful of stovers cannot change the world. Developing countries
entrepreneurs can. Why do I have all the technology, products and services
in my developed country? Because people could make money out of it, it is as
simple as that. Money-making is the best fuel in the human motor, sadly
enough. Capitalism has its flaws, but let's use the system to our advantage,
and to a greater good.

Charlie says selling stoves requires different disciplines, I couldn't agree
more, we are just beginning to understand what poor people want, how they
take their purchase decision, and how to serve them. Much much room for
improvement here. Economists, social scientists, and perhaps even clever car
sellers are needed here!

We need to :
- understand the target market
- make a highly valued stove for this target market (what is "cool" for the
target market ? we barely started to dig the question)
- bring down the price, with Paul propositions. When done, make it a bit
cheaper again :) Really, it has to be cheap.

For example, we should have designers working with stove engineers! The
product should look gorgeous! Most of the stoves look way too practical!
Look closely at them, frankly, few are beautiful. Remember it must be an
object of high status. Everyone recognizes the Coca-Cola glass bottle around
the world. Everyone can picture it in his/her head. It is just the greatest
and simplest invention one could find, or almost. No words are needed,
Coca-Cola marketing never uses long speeches.
Wikipedia says:
" The equally famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the "contour bottle" within
the company, but known to some as the "hobble skirt" bottle, was created by
bottle designer Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched a
competition among its bottle suppliers to create a new bottle for their
beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles, "a bottle
which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so
shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was."
How to make the stove look attractive, without increasing price and lowering
its cooking qualities? That is an interesting challenge.

I'm asking the people on the Stovelist in charge of big companies, of
factories... How in the future do they think prices of the stove can be
brought down? What are the options in the future to bring a lot of cheap
stoves to poor people? 

Best,

Xavier