[Stoves] GACC Webinar coming up in less than 10 hours

Wed Sep 6 17:13:29 CDT 2017

Nikhil:

	Thanks for the added detail - I presume because you also listened live (but maybe it’s up?)

	I asked a question (not answered) to expand on the term PAYGO - (pay as you go) that was used once.  For solar lights, people can be saving from day 1 with a small downpayment, as they save on candle and kerosene expenses - while paying off $20-40 over a few months.  I think a good stove program might be able to make a similar claim if they are in a high Tier.  The problem is having an  easy way to collect the paybacks, from families that are past the end of the drivable road.

	Besides Nikhil’s recollections, there are more that could be valuable to some when the full video is released.  But his is a good sample of what we heard.

	I saw a later dollar figure on EcoZoom’s annual business;  forget my $2.5 M number.

Ron


> On Sep 6, 2017, at 3:54 PM, Nikhil Desai <pienergy2008 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ron: 
> 
> I'd like to echo what you said and add few notes of mine, I think all from Oli.  Please do not hold him responsible for my scribbles. 
> 
> I am impressed that they moved to a "durable goods company", much more than "cookstoves", things that "improve life." (Yes, remember General Electric slogan - Brings Good Things to Life, or something.) 
> 
> a. Market conditions vary -- in Kenya, $40--45 price point for their version(s) of charcoal stoves, whereas in Uganda, Willingness to Pay at $11. (I happen to distrust WTP surveys; users have to see and use what is offered. GIZ has been running cookstoves program in Kampala for perhaps 20 years, and maybe they do have stoves of desired performance in that low price range. Or charcoal prices in Kampala are consistently lower than in Nairobi or wherever else EcoZoom sells.) 
> 
> b. "Need 35-37% gross profit margin to not have to worry all the time". I endorse this; depending on inventorying cost - for their solar lights and water appliances - and minimum container/half-container order requirements, pricing may have to start at 50-70% above the landed-to-the-warehouse costs, then adjust as new models come in or the need to clear the inventory. 
> 
> c. Donors keep asking expansion strategy, etc. and what we might say about flexibility in business operations, that is not what people want to hear. This is a valid complaint. Too many "donors" sitting in rich country capitals have bookish notions of how a retail business is run in the developing world, and new donors want to make a big splash showing "results", when they don't really know what the customer is looking for and why, and how reality changes from one year to third year. (This is not about any donor in particular, just general impression of the top-heavy thinking donors need in turn to sell their success to the rich country media.) 
> 
> d. Some charismatic people start social entrepreneur business and raise quite a bit of grant funds, but end up failing in business terms. (Again, I have seen some of this in solar business.) 
> 
> e. Grants are a double-edged sword. (I agree, and have been bothered by the intellectual and reporting dynamics. There is no clear answer. I would rather devise a government subsidy program with a five year combined innovation and marketing plan, and take risks market participants cannot take. Again, a problem of defining the market, selecting product designs, etc. etc. that we are all aware of.) 
> 
> Hope this helps. 
> 
> Nikhil
>  
> 
> 
> On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 4:18 PM, Ronal W. Larson <rongretlarson at comcast.net <mailto:rongretlarson at comcast.net>> wrote:
> List:
> 
> 	This is a brief summary of today’s GACC webinar.
> 
> 	It was almost entirely based on a report from May this year, totally unrelated to stoves - that can be found at:  https://static.globalinnovationexchange.org/s3fs-public/asset/document/FINAL%20Scaling%20Pathways%20-%20Pivoting%20to%20Impact%20(5.11.17).pdf?FUAG78FHtelgEUrQzC26YVmcN8apeovu <https://static.globalinnovationexchange.org/s3fs-public/asset/document/FINAL%20Scaling%20Pathways%20-%20Pivoting%20to%20Impact%20(5.11.17).pdf?FUAG78FHtelgEUrQzC26YVmcN8apeovu> .  The producing group and the author’s names are there - again, not stove related.
> 
> 	Two Principals at a young growing stove company (EcoZoom - headquartered in Kenya):  Amanda West (one of 3 founders, now at Mercy Corps  and Oli Raison (the present CEO) alternated back and forth on different aspects of this report.  They especially concentrated on five roadblocks summarized in this figure I took from the report.  Amanda (leading off) and Oli spent more than 5 minutes on each of the 5 topics - mainly concentrating on the EcoZoom experience.
> 
> <Screen Shot 2017-09-06 at 1.31.09 PM.png>
> 
> 	I thought the two webinar stove participants were exceptionally good.  EcoZoom (about $2.5 M/yr) has a portion of their business on solar lamps, which was especially interesting to me as I was a Board member of such a company (In Namibia) that clearly had many of the growing pain issues I heard this AM.
> 
> 	If you couldn’t hear today’s message (sponsored by GACC, but minimal participation by GACC staff this time) I recommend the webinar much more than the above-cited report.  The GACC site for the webinar, when it is ready, is likely to be http://cleancookstoves.org/events/414.html <http://cleancookstoves.org/events/414.html>
> 
> 	You might also get something from these sites:
> https://scalingpathways.globalinnovationexchange.org/resources/scaling-pathways-pivoting-impact <https://scalingpathways.globalinnovationexchange.org/resources/scaling-pathways-pivoting-impact>  (where Amanda’s name also appears) ,  
> https://www.mercycorps.org/sites/default/files/Mercy_Corps_Social_Venture_Fund_Overview_May_2016.pdf <https://www.mercycorps.org/sites/default/files/Mercy_Corps_Social_Venture_Fund_Overview_May_2016.pdf> ,
> http://skoll.org/contributor/amanda-west/ <http://skoll.org/contributor/amanda-west/>
> and  https://ecozoomstove.com/pages/about-us <https://ecozoomstove.com/pages/about-us> .
> 
> Ron
> 
>  

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