By Prachet Kumar Shrestha | Team Leader
In the past six months, progress has been done in different aspects.
DISTRIBUTION
The outreach to the rural community has increased. More no. of rural community groups / cooperatives (from east, central and west Nepal) has been linked. In the past six months, 500 no. of solar tuki lamps were sold and new linkage developed with 5 cooperatives.
CENTRAL WAREHOUSE
To further promote the solar tuki as an enterprise and to support the local level entrepreneurs, the concept of central warehouse has been developed. The idea is to import quality components from abroad (India, China) and to provide it to the local level entrepreneurs to fabricate the solar tuki. The warehouse will help in maintaining the quality of the solar tuki lamps and the end user will be benefited. At present, in the local Nepalese market, good quality components are not found and there is always the fear of local businessmen cheating the rural uneducated people.
With this purpose, separate contacts were developed with the Li-ion battery manufacturer and solar panel manufacturer in China. There samples were obtained, tested and the orders finalized. Accordingly, 2,000 pcs. of Li-ion battery has been delivered and the solar panel is being delivered next month. Quality brands of other components (from India) have also been identified.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Based upon the feedback from the end users, new types of fixtures have been developed.
RECOGNITION / AWARD ECCA was invited to present its experience in the Global Business Conference for Modern Lighting in the Lighting Africa 2008 event, Ghana organized by World Bank and the International Finance Corporation in May 6-8, 2008.
ECCA solar tuki program video was awarded in the Global Development Marketplace Amateur Video Contest 2008 organized by the World Bank, Washington DC, USA
SCALING
Team Leader Prachet K. Shrestha participated in the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) program (Aug 2008) conducted by the Santa Clara University, San Jose, California, USA. During the course, Business plan was developed for further scaling of the solar tuki in Nepal; which was updated after returning to Nepal.
Thanks to the donor community of the Global Giving (and others as well), we are able to reach more no. of rural poor (who do not have the financial capacity to make down payment) through the credit and installment payback scheme (by using the revolving fund).
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