[Stoves] Fwd: business sickness

[Paul Anderson]

Subject: 	business sickness
Date: 	Sun, 03 Jul 2016 09:27:07 -0400
From: 	Lange <rbtvl at aol.com>
To: 	psanders at ilstu.edu



No, you are not wrong about business sickness.

powerful institutions and governments are quick to subsidize 
corporations with loan guarantees, tax breaks, initial investments that 
need not be repaid etc.

  but if you want to help consumers with a subsidy you are "creating 
dependence" or "undermining sustainability".   such nonsense.

we have a wonderful stove.  we have 100% sustained adoption. we have 250 
women doing stove installations.   I am trying to re-design to get 
production cost down.   now.....$45 for the full stove and another $15 
to the women who install it.   too much for poor Maasai women to 
pay.  so we help them and charge  them less.  we also do solar 
electrical work and help women start businesses so we are not just stove 
people.   and with overheads, each home improved costs about $100.

please see

www.internationalcollaborative.org

I sat with Radha of the Global Alliance a few years ago and said.

"a billions women can't afford the stove they need.
we have three choices.
we can leave them out
we can sell them a stove they can afford that they will abandon
we can subsidize their purchase.

we choose to subsicize their purchase."

she said essentially that the Global alliance had to establish itself as 
"market based" and then maybe we can talk later.

our organization in the US and Tanzania might finally, after six years, 
get the government to work with us.   they love what we do.  but getting 
them to help fund is not so easy.

but we try. and maybe will succeed

bob lange      508 735 9176
the Maasai Stoves and Solar Project.
the ICSEE









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