The BRIGHTER future

After a year of blogging hiatus, Yenso Solar is back on the internet. So, here is a short explanation of the last 12 months. Harrison spent four months in Ghana from September to December revamping Yenso's business model to create a sustainable solution that will survive without us in Ghana. Harrison flew back just in time for Cole and Ariana's wedding, and then we all worked on Yenso while going to school full-time, working, and trying to stay on top of homework at BYU. After a semester of phone calls to Ghana, financing, hiring interns, and improving our business structure we are back in Ghana and getting accustomed to Ghana life with seven bodies instead of two. We have a new business model, new locations, new employees, and a budding future.

School Children carrying Yenso Lights

From Harrison's combined total of over three years living in Ghana, we've learned that our original approach needed some tweaking. With a significant overhaul of last year's model, we've designed a new approach that allows us to bring light to the smaller, rural areas. We work in primarily small villages (several that are off-grid) selling solar products that can help students study, light a room, or a whole home. We are currently selling in four areas, developing small shops in four other areas, and scoping out new potential locations on a daily basis.

Next to our apartments, there is a small guest house. We bartered with the guest house and are able to use their gym in the morning! The weights are primarily made out of old car parts - and we’re never exactly sure how much something weighs before we lift it - but, how many people can say they regularly work out in an old gym in Ghana? We make breakfast, wash our clothes, occasionally shower with buckets, and hit the road. We’ve learned how to drive stick (and we’ve gotten very good at dodging potholes and befriending police men).

The Yenso Solar group splits up into three teams and heads out to different villages. In villages with established contacts we show our products and talk with the shop owners that we know. We talk with the village council or chief to locate a trustworthy member of the village who can sell our products. These village member earns extra money to supplement their smaller income farming or working in a shop by becoming a Yenso Solar distributor. We establish selling techniques, training, and stock the shop with Yenso Solar banners.

Harrison introducing Yenso in Abuboi

Yesterday we visited a village named Abuboi. As villages get further from the central cities, they tend to grow smaller and more impoverished. Abuboi is far from the central city and has roughly 1,000 people living inside of its boundaries. We had a meeting set up with a member of the village who owns a small shop. We stopped by his cement home and found that he had gone into town to shop. We fell back on our original technique and decided to survey the village. Essentially, we walk up to the first small boy we see and say: “take me to your leader.” In other words, we ask if the village elders or village chief are around. We waited by the side of the road while the smallest boy ran to fetch a member of the village committee. The village secretary met us, and took us to the village palace. The palace is a cement building with dirt floors attached to the chief’s hut. They pointed us to some plastic green chairs that they had arranged in a big circle, and slowly the room started filling in. The village called the entire village council to meet us and hear about the solar products we had brought. We sat in a circle with the village chief and council! There was a series of rituals that started the meeting -- we learned that we had to shake hands in a certain order and address the “village translator” (who essentially acts as a mediator between any visitor and the chief). Once the chief allows you to, you can speak directly to him. We introduced our lamps, explained the various benefits of the product and ended up with a loud crowd of village leaders excited about the product. We told the elders that we wanted to hire a village lady to work as a distributor. Many of these women in the villages do not have a way to make money, even if they are educated. We’ve decided that this job opportunity is a way to empower women in many of these villages. The village committee eventually agreed with our proposition. Next week we will hire a lady in Abuboi and launch Yenso Solar in this small edge-of-the-grid village.

Harrison and Aldan with excited villagers

In the past week, we have spread from four areas to nine and introduced solar in a variety of villages. The most amazing thing to watch is the excitement of the people when we show them how bright this light is in the dark. African darkness is unlike anything I have ever experienced. At night if we venture out of our complex it is nearly impossible to see. There are very few streetlights - and even where there are a few, it is unlikely that they work. When we explain the money that they can save buying one lamp over small amounts of kerosene, batteries, or high electricity bills EVERYONE is so excited. It is hard to understand how much a small solar light can change a life until you see 15 village elders shouting loudly in Twi after seeing the brightness of the light.