Abuboi - Sellers & Offroad Adventures

Yenso Solar has established itself in the village of Abuboi. Last week in Abuboi we met with the village chief and committee members. Early this week we met with a seller that they had selected for us. Hannah, a fiery woman who lives on the edge of Abuboi, speaks a little English, and is sort of like the beloved mother of the village of Abuboi. We're really excited to work with Hannah because she is so excited to be part of the village team. She is smart, quick, and the perfect person to rally the village and surrounding areas on solar.

We've also been working hard to find a manager in the Praso area. So far, Yenso has always experienced immense progress while we are working in country. But, once the Yenso team of college students heads back to the USA, there tends to be a tremendous slow-down of operations. If Yenso is going to be successful, we need to hire a manager who can handle the operations and accounting. This morning we held interviews and have a few promising candidates in mind. We’re excited that we’re establishing the Yenso network, finding sellers, distributors, and potential managers!

Yenso had also had an exciting week on the automobile front. Both the Yenso Car and Motorcycle have run into problems and are both sitting waiting for mechanics. On Tuesday, the Yenso team split into two groups to search out villages that don’t have electricity. Four of us headed towards a village called “Number 1” that we had heard did not have electricity. After a long dirt road, we arrived in number one to find several street lights. The villagers informed us that electricity had come to their village about five months previous. They directed us further down the same road to another village called “Number 8” that is still without light. We headed to Number 8 and we were met by curious villagers. The village had a sign down the road that read: “No light, No vote.” We showed the group that gathered around us when we pulled up the solar lamps. We were met with HUGE excitement as we demonstrated the light’s waterproof/ drop proof abilities. We lit up the small lottery stand at the front of the village and surveyed different members of the village about their current forms of light. We learned that villages like Number 8 without any access to light DEFINITELY want solar. We headed further down the road to yet another village that is off-grid. But, we didn’t make it. Partway down this bumpy road our little blueberry car got stuck in some deep road. It took us and some Ghanaian Cocoa farmers to get our little car unstuck. And then it took several of us running, navigating a path, and occasionally pushing the car to make it the rest of the way out of the dirt-roads to the main road. Shortly after arriving to the main road, the car completely died. It wouldn’t budge much further. By this point, we were sitting in the dark in a broken down car slightly out of the town of Praso -- unsure if we should leave the car on the side of the road and start looking for Tro-Tro Vans or Taxis. We stopped and said a prayer. A few minutes after we prayed, Brigham pulled up next to us. Brigham was in church meetings as the District President in Praso down the road that were supposed to end at 10:00. But, he had felt prompted to end the meetings two hours early and had left at 8. With Brigham’s help, the Yenso team and car made it home safely.

A day later, two members of the Yenso team were riding the Yenso Moto in the rain -- and the tire shredded. So, currently we are sitting in our small apartment hoping that this torrential Ghanaian rain lets up and that our automobiles are fixed quickly!

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.

Goodbye Ghana - and a Yenso Summary

Goodbye Ghana! As our 5 week adventure comes to a close, we excited for the future of Yenso, but equally sad to be leaving. It’s hard to leave our friends, new and old, and our fledgling business. In the last week a ton of cool stuff has been happening, making it even more difficult to miss the excitement.

Business wise, the hardest part has been getting more lamps. We had a series of obstacles involving money transfers, shipping, orders, and such, but we finally got our hands on 50 more Sun King Pro 2s. Within hours of receiving the shipment, they sold nearly half. Hopefully in the near future, we will have the cash to buy in greater quantities.

We’ve finalized all the hiring for our management team. Sales operations will be run mostly by the marketing and training managers, Jude and Ernest. Our country manager, Michael, will be handling overall operations, accounting, partnerships, and more of the admin level stuff. Our network of sellers will continue to distribute lamps in their areas under the training and guidance of our managers. This set up has allowed us to spend more time working with manufactures, importers, and customers. We’ve been able to collect data from actual and potential customers; their feedback is crucial to evaluating and improving our efforts.

We met with representatives from Little Sun, a German company, who flew in to demo their products. They also produce solar lamps. Little Sun offers a smaller and cheaper alternative to the Pro 2. Though much less powerful, because the Little Sun is less expensive, it is a great option for students as a small study light. We’re excited to see how this could fit into our line up of products and help more students!

On the weekends, we have been able to travel to more rural areas to visit Harrison’s friends and explore the markets there. Visits to “the bush” have opened our eyes more to the greater need that exists in villages. Though city dwellers also love the Pro 2, those in rural areas sense a much greater value in the lamp. A village chief in Nyenase was particularly impressed, wanting us to return quickly with lots of lamps. He even offered to make Harrison a chief, official ceremony and all, if we gave him a lamps for free. Too bad one of the mottos is “don’t give anything away for free.”

Our objections to free handouts originated a long time ago, but they have only been solidified during our time here. If people, anywhere, get things for free there are a number of problems: 1) There is no sense of ownership or accountability, no thought of “I spent a lot of money on this, I’m going to take care of it.” 2) If you give things away for free and people actually want it, you probably won’t have enough to give away, and people will just sell it to those who want it most. Thus the purpose behind giving it away for free is defeated. 3) There is no sustainability. If we were giving these lamps away for free, we would have helped maybe 100 people maximum. Eventually, our money would have run out and we would have packed up and gone home. Done.

As a social enterprise, we allow the free market to drive our social impact. This resolves many of the above problems. 1) A Sunking Pro 2 is a little expensive. When a customer buys one, they understand that they are making an investment, and will take care of the lamp until it “earns its keep.” With adequate care, these lamps will last 5 years, saving them a lot of money. 2) The people who really want it, get it. Richer people buy it on the spot. Poorer people save or sacrifice until they can get the money together. The free market gets these lamps into the right hands. (Our installment payment method helps a ton with this.) 3) We are sustainable. Not only have we helped the original 100 people, but we are still growing, helping more every day. We employ 11 people and are still hiring. Our impact is increasing. As a for-profit business, we have attracted several interested investors. People interested in both social and financial returns are draw to social ventures.

We are excited and humbled to be able to work with one investor, Brigham Johnson. He is the owner of the Forever Young foundation school in Ghana, owns several other schools, banks, and microfinance institutions. He is interested in solar and is very well respected in many rural areas. We are super stoked to have him with Yenso, bringing experience, financial backing, and a ton of connections. Between him and our management team, we are confident we will be able to keep Yenso growing after we leave.

We spent a few days in Accra doing business stuff. We set up Yenso Solar as an official Ghanaian business. That had its fair share of legal fun. We are also worked on opening bank accounts and getting a better way to transfer money between Ghana and the US.

            Leaving Ghana, we traveled to the airport early in the evening, planning to sleep at the airport and avoid missing our early morning flight. As a classic end to our Ghana adventure, we realized halfway through the night that we had never actually checked the time on our tickets…and we were off by 12 hours. The good news? We thought our flight was 12 hours earlier than it actually was – meaning that we didn’t miss our flight. The bad news? We thought our flight was 12 hours earlier than it actually was - meaning that we unnecessarily slept in the airport and handed ourselves an extra long layover. J

How many goats can fit in one van?

Question: How many goats goats can you fit into a 15 seater tro tro van? 

Answer: Two…if you also fit in 23 adults, 5 kids, and a pig. Legality? Questionable. Probably the craziest three hour ride to church ever. Sundays in Ghana are great; we are able to visit a lot of Harrison’s old missionary areas and meet many wonderful, loving Ghanaian people.

            This week we traveled a bunch to schools, offices, companies and even rubber plantations. Each commute was full of bumpy, dusty tro-tro rides – but each and every one was worth it. We saw the lamps light up lives and the excitement in children’s eyes as they watched their classroom, dark from the rainstorm, flood with light. Just one of our lamps easily lit up one dark classroom.

            A note on these rainstorms in Ghana – when it rains in Ghana, it RAINS. Every path becomes a river, roads are instantly flooded and muddy and the noise of the raindrops is deafening. Rainy days in Ghana make selling and productivity more difficult, and create greater darkness in people’s homes and in schools.

            We have also been able to find more sellers and reliable people that we think will be able to help us continue to make Yenso Solar a success when we leave Ghana. One of our new sellers managed to get 20 orders for lamps in one day! He is an incredibly hard worker and has hilarious marketing tactics. His favorite is to give a “special discount” on the lamps, after initially quoting them at twice the retail price. We were also able to meet with another good friend from Harrison’s mission. He is a stake president here in Ghana and is a major answer to our prayers. We’ve had difficulty trying to figure out how to make Yenso Solar an official business being foreigners in Ghana. As an influential, reliable and trustworthy partner to Yenso Solar he is helping us to make our business an official and fully legalized business in Ghana. He is also working to help us find a more permanent warehouse for us to continue running Yenso Solar out of once we leave. Essentially – this man is helping us to solve all of the most pressing problems that we currently face and is helping to ensure the future success of Yenso Solar.

            Another miracle - we were also able to meet with a man from Greenlight Planet, the manufacturer of our lamps. He came from Nigeria and is in charge of partnerships in West Africa. Basically his job is to help us succeed. Our job is to get his product to the people who need it. He gave us tons of great feedback, suggestions, and ideas and is as excited as we are for the future of Yenso Solar. He invited us to a conference in Accra last week with some of the most influential leaders in Ghana. The conference gave us an opportunity to network with other people concerned about the energy crisis and to spread word about Yenso Solar and our mission here. We met the former Ghana president and other United Nations representatives in Ghana. We handed out quite a few business cards and introduced people to our new website! Check it out HERE!

In other news, the lamps are selling so well that we’ve sold out our entire inventory! We ordered more lamps, but we are struggling while we wait for them to come in. Our sales team is growing, our customer base is spreading, and more people are getting light!