Cookstove Distribution Systems Update · vendors, banking, basic marketing and advertisement, etc....
Transcript of Cookstove Distribution Systems Update · vendors, banking, basic marketing and advertisement, etc....
1 | C L E A N C O O K S T O V E S A N D F U E L S
Cookstove Distribution Systems Update
ETHOS 2018Richard Grinnell
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2 New Stores empowering 10 women that own the stores
Funding by UNDP Forestry Program
Jutiapa, Jutiapa
Jalapa, Jalapa
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Process for starting a new store
• Community with an important market is selected
• Work with the Municipal Women´s Office to propose groups of women
• Interview with women to select a group of no more tan 7
– Time availability
– Husband approval
– Experience with sales
– Desire to participate
• Selection of adequate location for store
• Store painted and branded, basic furniture and equipment purchased, stove selection installed
• Women group training: Basic accounting, explanation of the stoves models, sales techniques, intrapersonal relations, hygiene and store maintenance, inventories, negotiation with product vendors, banking, basic marketing and advertisement, etc.
• Provide basic initial inventory and demos stoves (working capital)
• Store inauguration with local government and media presence
• 4 month continuous support
• Umbrella Organization on call for advice and problem solving
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Umbrella Organization
• Provide back office Support
– Online accounting
– Call Center
– Facebook fan page (FB/estufasmejoradasymas)
– Ads and promotions
– Llogistics for stove and other product supply and transport
– New products
– Continuous training
• Must be sustainable on its own
• Charge a nominal fee to each store?
• Engage MFIs
• Help set up new stores to expand network
• Work with manufacturers to provide stoves that respond to customer requests
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What have we learned
• Customers amazed at stove variety
• Like the ability to test
• Walk by visitors
• People ask for other stoves
– Could be sourced and sold
• Manufacturers have made stove modifications to achieve better acceptance
• Issues with replenishing inventory
– Timeliness
– Transportation cost
– Availability
• Different models accepted in different regions
• Good amount of traffic on Facebook indicating interest, both local and migrant family
members
• Problem resolution within women groups
• Working capital needs
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• Designs that are retail market ready
• Pre assembled or simple assembly
• Not a lot of inventory parts, packaging
• Weight, transportability
• Modern looking (don’t look like projects but like products)
• Intuitive use
• Meets needs
Working with distributors and manufacturers
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Clean Cookstove Store advantages
• Women can see and test drive the stoves available
• 380 women from 15 municipalities selected the 6 stoves they liked best
• Evaluated: looks, ease of lighting, ease of maintaining the fire and cooking, tortilla making
• Municipal or NGO projects can bring groups of women to select the stove they prefer
• Inventory available for immediate sale
• Sell replacement parts
• Provide post sale services
• Feed back for the manufacturers
• Women empowerment and create access to technologies
• Other products: Water filters, solar lights, pots and pans
and other products
• Job creation
• Point of sales for manufacturers/importers, helping increase
their production volumes and potentially lower production costs
and therefore make them more affordable
• Consumer credit
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Women test the stoves in the store before deciding on the model they want
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What’s comming:
• Two new stores funded by Ecomedia (CBS owned company) through their Givewith program
– Will develop a 2 to 3 minute video and share through social media for 3 months
– Match with corporate support for actual funding
• NAMA Facility to provide funds for 15 to 20 new stores for the 5 prioritized departments
starting the second half of 2018
• Seeking corporate interest and/or donors to put stores in non-NAMA departments (other
countries?)
• Business model fine tuning
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Richard GrinnellMarket Manager for Latin AmericaGlobal Alliance for Clean [email protected]