What is The (BoP) Project?
Welcome to The (BoP) Project Gallery. My name is Jonathan Kalan; I am a freelance photojournalist, writer, and aspiring social entrepreneur. Currently, I am traveling throughout East Africa documenting the untold stories of those at the Base of the Economic Pyramid, working directly with social enterprises, entrepreneurs, and innovative nonprofits to produce independent media and visual portfolios of their stories.
Mission:
To discover, document and share stories of remarkable social entrepreneurs, enterprises and innovations that are redefining poverty alleviation through economic development.
Through visual and written journalism, I hope to teach people about the growing social enterprise movement and the viable alternatives to traditional aid. The goal of this project is not to document poverty, but instead document the incredible potential that Africa holds. In addition to covering these stories on The BoP Project blog, and returning with a full photo-journalistic piece to share with galleries and interested publications, I am contributing to various other blogs, publications, websites, and organizations dealing with these issues along the way. In recent months, The (BoP) Project has contributed to online and print outlets such as "On The Ground" (NYT Blog), NextBillion, The Star (Kenya), Dowser, BeyondProfit Mag, Acumen Fund, TriplePundit, and many others.
The Story:
Four billion people on this planet live in relative poverty. While each of their situations are unique, most of these 4 billion people share a similar set of economic constraits, collectively placing them at the Base of the Economic Pyramid (BoP).
Characteristics of the BoP
Traditional forms of aid often fall short of addressing these critical issues and of providing sustainable solutions for those at the BoP to escape the poverty trap and enter the formal economy.
Over the past 25 years, social enterprises and entrepreneurs like Grameen Bank (Mohammed Yunus), Ashoka (Bill Drayton), and many more have been developing innovative approaches to meet the needs of those in the BoP, leveraging the powers of capitalism to help entrepreneurs lift their communities out of poverty.
Unfortunately, much of the general public is still largely unaware of these approaches, and the growing movement towards social enterprise and market based solutions to poverty. Their stories, successes, challenges and breakthroughs are inspiring; yet they are far too often left untold.
The Founder/ Photojournalist:
In just 23 short years I have traveled to over 33 countries, lived and worked in Asia and Africa, and pursued a career as a photojournalist and social entrepreneur. My photography has been published nationally and internationally, covering a wide range of topics - from rural energy solutions in Nepal, to California wildfires, to local news and events on LATimes.com, LAWeekly.com, and The Santa Monica Daily Press, to most recently documenting a fundraising climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Please click on the PuraVidaPhotos tab above for a portfolio of work.
Before moving to East Africa, I was pioneering the new industry of Mobile Fundraising and running a blog on Social Entrepreneurship/Corporate Social Responsibility, as Manager of Mobile Fundraising & CSR with a growing startup company called Causecast. After an incredible experience behind the scenes helping nonprofit organizations develop technology, campaigns, platforms and more through Causecast, I decided to take a short break to follow my dreams.
I am currently based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and can be reached at jonathankalan_gmail.com.
News, Articles, Posts, Contributions.
The (BoP) Project goes far beyond this site. Throughout the journey I will be contributing to various blogs, publications, e-books, sites, and more. Here are a few of the most recent contributions you can find around the web....
Dowser.org: "BoP Slideshow: KOMAZA, innovations in microforestry and sustainablity in Africa" http://dowser.org/bop-slideshow-komaza-innovations-in-microforestry-and-sustainablity-in-africa/
"On The Ground" (New York Times Blog): "Where The Grid Will Not Go", By Josh Ruxin. Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 (The (BoP) Project Photo Credit) http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/where-the-grid-will-not-go/
PhotoPhilanthropy: "Documenting Potential Over Poverty" http://photophilanthropy.org/2011/04/06/documenting-potential-over-poverty/
The Star (Kenya): "On The Coast, Money Grows On Trees" The Star Newspaper, Thursday March 17th, 2011
The Star (Kenya): "If There Is Sunshine, There Will Be Water" The Star Weekend Edition, Saturday, March 5th, 2011
Vijana FM: "Five Questions With The BoP Project's Jonathan Kalan" http://vijana.fm/2011/02/19/five-questions-with-the-bop-projects-jonathan-kalan/
Beyond Profit E-Magazine: "Door-To-Door Healthcare" http://beyondprofit.com/door-to-door-healthcare/
Acumen Fund: "Unexpected Uses of an Ikotoilet" http://blog.acumenfund.org/2011/01/26/photo-of-the-week-unexpected-uses-of-an-ikotoilet/
TriplePundit: "The (BoP) Project: Turning Wasted Vegetable Oil into Fuel for Africa" http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/01/bop-project-turning-wasted-vegetable-oil-fuel-africa/
NextBillion.net: "The (BoP) Project: Finding Sustainable Water Solutions" http://www.nextbillion.net/blog/2011/01/07/high-tech-solutions
TriplePundit: "The (BoP) Project Photo Essay: KOMAZA" http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/12/komaza-bottom-of-pyramid-photo-essay/
PhotoPhilanthropy: "Powering Africa: A Night in Musubiro, Uganda" http://photophilanthropy.org/2011/01/14/powering-africa-a-night-in-musubiro-uganda/
Causecast: "The BoP Project: Photojournalism At The Bottom Of The Pyramid" http://www.causeintegration.com/2010/the-bop-project-photojournalism-at-the-bottom-of-the-pyramid/
NextBillion.net: "Introducing The (BoP) Project: Photojournalism at the Base of the Economic Pyramid" http://www.nextbillion.net/blog/2010/11/29/one-step-further-photojournalism-at-the-base-of-the-pyramid
KOMAZA is a U.S. based social enterprise, building "Africa's First Nonprofit Forestry Company" through Micro-Forestry projects and a decentralized network of small-scale Kenyan farmers.
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Stepping into the office of KOMAZA tucked quietly off the beaten road in the sleepy beachside town of Kilifi, Kenya, I was greeted with a scene that just felt entirely out of place.
Stretched out on couches under a breezy cabana, sitting beneath the shade of an overgrown tree on the lawn, and huddled around tiny cooperative work stations typing furiously under the glow of Mac laptops, were a dozen young, talented, educated and inspired kids from across the world. Recent top university grads, law school grads, consultants, and Wall Street analysts who opted for something more (after hardly a year or two in the field); it could have been the office of any hip Southern California web start-up company (No shoes, no desks? No problem), had we all not been sweating profusely under the hot Kenyan sun.
It was surprising, but also familiar. Sure, I hadn’'t seen that many young expats in one place (outside of a pub) in quite some time. Yet as I have come across many strains of social enterprises and innovative non profits from Los Angeles to New York to Mombasa, I’'ve discovered one thing. It is my generation- a young, socially conscious, and determined generation- that is pushing forward a wave of emerging social enterprises like KOMAZA by delaying, departing from, or even turning away completely from other, perhaps more financially or professionally enhancing opportunities.
Why is this happening? Social enterprises like KOMAZA are fertile ground for real world experience, real world impact, and real world challenges. They are extremely flat- hierarchies hardly exist- and self motivation and collaboration are the keys to success. They provide a place to combine work and play, philanthropic missions and business challenges, small and medium enterprise [SME] economics and global social change. With the support of an equally motivated yet diversely experienced local Kenyan staff (the office is comprised of about half expats, half Kenyan nationals), Komaza is just one example of how a successful social enterprise is able to attract the right people at the right price. For most, that price is simply room and board in the ten-person communal house where many of the staff, fellows, and volunteers eat, work, and play together. For them, working at a place like KOMAZA is as much a lifestyle choice as it is a job.
So, how does KOMAZA or any budding social enterprise for that matter, attract the people that it does?
There is no one formula, but here’'s the usual story: One part Inspired Visionary, one part Creative New Idea, and one giant part Defining and Testing a New Business Model that aims to turn a profit and lift people out of poverty. In KOMAZA's case, the solution is as simple as planting trees.
KOMAZA is a U.S.-based non profit social enterprise that is developing a new concept they call “Microforestry.” They seek to create sustainable economic opportunities for farmers living in Africa’s semi-arid regions while establishing “Africa’'s First Nonprofit Forestry Company.” By working with a highly localized, village-based field staff (part of what they call their extensive “Rural Cell” network), they partner with rural families and help them plant and maintain small-scale, income-generating tree farms.
Founder and Executive Director Tevis Howard, 26, and recent winner of the Social Venture Network’'s “Innovation Award” for KOMAZA's approach, wasn'’t quite looking to plant trees when he first came to Kenya in 2002. He arrived as neuroscience student from Brown University focused on malaria immunology research. However, a fascination with tree farming and its innate ability to both increase the livelihoods of the villagers and decrease the nation’s deforestation led Howard in a new direction. In 2006 he returned to Kilifi, pulled together a small but committed local staff, and started building KOMAZA.
In working with small-scale farmers to plant ½-1 acre tree farms in semi-arid regions of Kenya, KOMAZA's direct impact is threefold;
First, they hope to alleviate the deforestation of indigenous trees (only 2% of Kenya remains covered by forests), by reducing the need for these farmers to cut down the forests in the first place. One of the most common income sources for farmers in these areas is charcoal production, which requires a significant amount of trees to be cut down.
Second, by working with the each individual farmer & their families to utilize their most dry, unused land to plant a drought-resistant strain of eucalyptus trees, KOMAZA is introducing farmers to a new sustainable source of income. When the trees are cut and harvested, they will continue to grow without needing to be replanted.
Third, and why KOMAZA has attracted so much attention lately, is that Komaza is building a financially viable for-profit business itself, allowing it to expand its reach and impact beyond the towns and villages around Kilifi. The idea of KOMAZA becoming “Africa’'s first nonprofit forestry company”, while bold, isn’'t entirely unreasonable.
In 2001, as a result of increasing deforestation and the unsustainable practices of the logging industry, Kenya instituted a ban on logging that left only a small handful of companies operating in the country. With the demand for wood still steady, Kenya began importing wood, while at the same time facing two continuing problems; 1.) An abundance of labor, and 2.) An abundance of dry, unused land, mostly in the coastal regions. KOMAZA's vision is to meet the needs of the local and regional (East Africa) demand for wood by developing a localized supply through its village-based extension network of small-scale tree farmers.
Farmers in KOMAZA's network retain ownership of their land- a very important detail here in Kenya- and reap the financial benefits of their time and labor cultivating and maintaining the land. While the trees are “owned” by KOMAZA, the contracts state that the profits are split 50/50, plus the cost of inputs (seeds, tools, etc). This is to ensure both a significant increase in income to the farmer for their unused land, and a return that once scaled will hopefully make KOMAZA a financially self-sustaining enterprise. For a ½ acre of trees, the farmers alone can earn upwards of USD $3,000-$6,000 over 10 years. That’'s no small change, considering most of these farmers are living on an average of USD $300/year.
The larger the trees grow, the more valuable they become. So, in order to stagger the income of the farmers from the tree harvesting, and also increase the profits the farmers will yield, KOMAZA harvests a small percentage of the trees, around 20%, after 4 years. They continue to harvest every couple of years, until about 10-12 years of growth, when they are large enough for telephone poles and can potentially be purchased by the Kenyan government to advance its rural electrification agenda. During the time of the tree growth, farmers are also earning a small income from various short term crops such as Cow Peas and Jatropha, provided by KOMAZA as well.
Challenges:
First, money doesn’'t grow on these trees (although Komaza might hope differently) and just because there are perhaps 1,000 fifty-foot Eucalyptus trees sitting on your land doesn’'t mean you’'re rich. Second, these trees don'’t grow overnight. Nor do the processing facilities, or the market for selling the wood. These are just some of the challenges that lie ahead for KOMAZA It’'s been three years since their first season of planting, and while the organization has grown from serving 50 families to nearly 1,000 through their 160+ field staff network, their business model has yet to be proven. No trees have been harvested, no processing done, no wood sold and no profits made.
Next year, KOMAZA will hold its first harvest of the 50 farms it started with in 2008, but no one expects it to be extremely profitable. The trees are still small and they will only harvest perhaps 20% of each farm. The key here will be how KOMAZA processes the trees, explores and enters the market, and plans its moves for bigger harvests.
While KOMAZA continues to grow, perhaps the greatest challenge to overcome will be from within. A revolving door of young, talented, and passionate graduates and professionals is needed for creativity and inspiration, yet as with many young social enterprises, retention can be difficult, knowledge transfer even harder. A profitable enterprise would mean longer-termed, higher paid employees, yet trees grow slowly, and profits are years away. While the social enterprise field may be moving at a rapid pace, KOMAZA must balance that rapid advancement of the field with the slower growth of its products.
As I spent a couple of days walking around exploring the 55 acre experimental farm (where new strains of seedlings and planting methods are tested), visiting some of KOMAZA's partner farms, and speaking with a handful of their farmers on the outskirts of the village of Ganze, one thing became clear. While maybe some of these farmers don’'t quite understand the business model, or see that reducing deforestation is a key reason for KOMAZA's existence, they do understand that by planting trees, they will make money. How much, at the moment, isn’'t an issue. They have seen in just 3 years the tiny seedlings grow into strong, healthy, twenty-foot trees. In the strength of these trees, is their future income. Regardless of how small the initial profits may be, it will absolutely exceed what the land producing before: nothing.
Eco-Pesa, a program of Eco-Ethics International Union, is an alternative local currency used to reduce poverty, support environmental conservation, and stimulate the economy of the Kongowea sums in Mombasa, Kenya.
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When I first heard of Eco-Pesa, the community-based currency being experimented with in the Kongowea slums of Mombasa, I knew I had to make Kongowea a stop for The BoP Project. I was skeptical at first, wondering why and how anyone would attempt to create an alternative form of currency in a slum, where there is hardly enough of even the official currency circulating around.
As I soon discovered, while wading through the flooded alleyways of Kongowea in a brief but intense downpour of November rain, Eco-Pesa was not some utopian currency with zero value intent on replacing the Kenyan Shilling. It was created specifically to try and keep more of the national currency circulating within the community, while at the same time promoting youth-driven environmental sustainability.
Eco-Pesa, developed by Peace Corps alum Will Ruddick as a program of Eco-Ethics International Union, acts as a business voucher that can be exchanged for local goods and services at registered businesses in Kongowea. Its main goal is to keep money, and donor funding, continuously flowing within the community instead quickly leaving through purchases outside of the slums.
The Eco-Pesa vouchers are introduced into the Kongowea economy in two ways;
First, local businesses can register with Eco-Pesa and purchase the vouchers with Kenyan Shillings from the Eco Pesa Kiosk, which is opened twice a week. Each Eco-Pesa is backed by its equivalent value in Shillings (1 Eco-Pesa = 1 Kenyan Shilling), and can always be redeemed for Kenyan Shillings at no penalty.
Second, local youth are paid in Eco-Pesa by Eco-Ethics International for local trash collection & tree planting in Kongowea. While paying youth for trash collection is clearly not a financially self-sustaining solution, Eco-Ethics sees the payments for these services in Eco-Pesa as a way to implement their donors funds in a responsible way (they call it Responsible Aid). Eco-Pesa allows full accountability for each dollar donated and ensures it stays within the targeted community.
After only four months of circulation, Eco Pesa has achieved modest success in the small section of Kongowea in which it has been launched. Over 70 businesses, including water vendors, food vendors, barber shops, schools, and small general shops, are accepting and using the currency. The Eco-Ethics team has also paid local youth in Eco-Pesa for collecting over 20 tons of trash in the community and planting thousands of trees, which will be used green the slums and develop a profit-generating business for the youth.
So far, the impact of Eco-Pesa on Konogwea is not yet clear. Most businesses accepting Eco-Pesa do report an increase in business, but there is much number crunching and analytics to be done if Eco Pesa wants to determine exactly how many local transactions they are responsible for stimulating.
The long-term goal of Eco-Pesa is to slowly expand the currency to more neighborhoods of Kongowea, eventually introducing it in Kongowea Market, the largest market in Mombasa, just a few kilometers away. This would provide a greater range of goods and services available for purchase through Eco-Pesa, while at the same time open up the Eco-Pesa program to a host of other opportunities. For example, nearby resorts and hotels could exchange Kenyan shillings for Eco-Pesa, and tap into the eco-tourism market emerging around the world by encouraging tourists to shop responsibly.
Eco-Pesa is also working to collaborate with a local Kenyan Micro-Finance Bank, to begin issuing small business Eco-Pesa loans to the Kongowea community.
Eco-Pesa is an innovative experiment in the making, and if successful, has the potential to be a model that is replicated and implemented in slums around the world. Being hardly four months old, it will take some time to evaluate the impact, develop metrics, and understand how the currency is flowing within the community. Keep posted on The BoP Project, and http://www.ecoethics-kenya.org/projects/eco-pesa.html for updates on the program.
Grundfos LIFELINK, a subsidiary of global pump manufacturer Grundfos, builds innovative pay-per-use water systems designed to provide safe drinking water to small communities, market places, hospitals, orphanages, and schools in rural areas around the world.
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Over one billion people in the world have no access to clean water, or must travel several kilometers each day to fetch it, only to carry heavy buckets and jerrycans full, back the same distance. This job, almost always, is done by women.
Water is not just needed for drinking. It's needed to cultivate and nourish crops, raise livestock, and run small businesses from tea stands to clothes washing. For those at the BoP, water is truly a means of livelihood, and the overall economic loss due to lack of access to safe water and basic sanitation in Africa alone is estimated at $28.4 billion a year, or close to 5% of Africa's GDP.
In many areas, there is but one solution: build a well. Depending on the size and power (manual or electric) of the well, an organization or community can drill a borehole and install a pump system for a $5,000 - $20,000 USD initial investment. But once a community has a well, many questions remain. Who will maintain it? Who will pay for repairs? Who will monitor the health and water table of the well? Sometimes, the answers are not always clear, and wells far too often go dry or remain broken.
Now, picture a world in which clean, safe, and affordable water is available to everyone- especially those at the Base of the Economic Pyramid who are living in dry, semi-arid regions on less than $2 USD a day.
As our car bounced up the road ("road" being a very generous term here...) to the small village of Wendano, Kenya, I no longer had to picture a solution. As we approached an empty patch of land, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a giant water tower stretching up towards the sky, topped off with a clean-looking solar panel. At the base, stood a small concrete structure; centered inside was a four-foot high black box with 4 hoses sticking out. From afar, I thought I was looking at some sort of strange robot.
The Grundfos LIFELINK system is certainly no robot, but it is about as high-tech as rural water solutions can get. The LIFELINK System is a single-point water supply system with a submersible pump that is powered entirely by solar panels; the water is pumped to an elevated storage tank, then led by gravity to a tap unit in a small, secure concrete housing structure. The tap unit (the big black box) also serves as an automatic payment facility, utilizing a unique mobile payment system (M-PESA) and a pre-paid FOB key (with Radio Frequency Identification Technology), which can be re-loaded and paid by customers through a simple text message. The whole system contains a computer-based communication and surveillance module, relaying real-time usage, water table health and operational information. Check out one of the systems I visited HERE.
Grundfos is responsible for providing maintenance, repairs, and replacements. In its contract with the community, the consumers agree to pay a 2 or 3 KSHs/filling fee (depending on the location) and Grundfos guarantees they will fix or replace any parts of the system that may breakdown. (Hence the need for all the monitoring).
Grundfos LIFELINK is a business, not a charity, as the promotional materials quickly point out. It is the first solely BoP-focused subsidiary business from the world leading pump manufacturer Grundfos, which has spent two years piloting the LIFELINK system, a market-based approach to solving the issues of water poverty. According to their mission, they are "committed to improving the living conditions for the disadvantaged people in the BoP market by providing them with access to safe drinking water and other infrastructural platforms."
At only 2-3 Kenyan Shillings (around $.04 USD) per jerrycan, the price recommended by the Kenyan Government, the LIFELINK system is both affordable and accessible to those at the BoP. Yet with an initial price tag of close to $35,000 per system, the LIFELINK solution is certainly not a cheap investment. But, in the end, the incredible sustainability of this system may more than make up for the price. As long as the sun keeps shining, consumers to continue to pay, and Grundfos continues its close monitoring, maintenance, and service of the equipment through the funds generated, these systems can last upwards of 20 years.
In theory, at the cost of $35,000 a system, a village of 2,000 people would only need to pay $17.50/person up-front for the system, or less than $1 per person per year for 20 years, in addition to the service fee. While currently aid agencies, NGOs and governments are purchasing or investing in these systems, not the communities themselves, it seems like if managed properly, the communities could possibly bear the costs. Grundfos LIFELINK said that working with microfinance institutions to do just that was part of the initial model, but their current approach made more sense for piloting the system.
While the 9 systems currently operating around Kenya certainly won't be able to sustain Grundfos LIFELINK's operating costs, at scale- great scale-Grundfos feels it may just have discovered a financially viable solution to providing clean water to the BoP.
With a market of over 1.1 billion people waiting for a solution, I hope they have found it as well.
Mafuta Sasa Biodiesel Ltd., based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is a for-profit company that converts Wasted Vegetable Oil into high quality, clean burning bio-diesel fuel.
Michael Mwakilasa is not your typical Tanzanian entrepreneur. With a beaming smile, warm handshake, and a half-New-York, half-Tanzanian accented "Hey man!" he welcomed me into his factory- a rickety array of oil barrels, heavy machinery, holding tanks, hoses, big levers, colored valves and a small generator, buried in an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
At age 42, Michael's resume is by far one of the most eclectic I've seen. Yet at the same time, it's just strangely fitting enough for a man attempting to build a biodiesel industry out of used cooking oil on the eastern coast of Africa.
He's traveled to every state in the continental United States distributing merchandise on tour with Janet Jackson, Nsync, and countless other American pop stars; authored a children's book on Julius Nyerere, Tanzania's founding father; worked for several years at a New York City law firm; and is currently running a nonprofit teaching Tanzanian children financial literacy. He also has a deep interest in and passion for ships.......
As he began speaking about his current endeavor Mafuta Sasa Biodiesel Ltd, which launched in 2008 as the first Wasted Vegetable Oil (WVO) to biodiesel refinery in East Africa, I couldn't help but be entirely captivated by his energy. A born entrepreneur bent on pursuing his philosophy of "doing good and doing well," he returned to his native Tanzania two years ago after living almost 18 years on and off in the U.S. and Canada. He wanted to return home and do something, anything really, to help improve his country.
As his feet began to itch in New York, Michael and his friend, future partner & CEO of Mafuta Sasa Anthony S. Park, began researching industries and opportunities to build a sustainable business in Tanzania. After pouring over reports, exchanging ideas, and a couple of brainstorming sessions, the grim energy scenario in East Africa sparked a light bulb. "How about biodiesel?" they asked. Biodiesel burns 75% cleaner than petroleum diesel, smells good, can be produced from a multitude of sources, and the industry was wide open.
Starting with used oil from McDonalds and a small Jamaican restaurant in NYC, Michael and Anthony began tinkering with transforming WVO into cheap, clean burning biodiesel. A year later, they perfected the precise formulas for adding methanol and sodium hydroxide, knowing the right inputs, the proper amounts and the exact timing for heating and settling. With an initial $160,000 of investment and equipment from the U.S, they set up shop in a broken down warehouse in Dar es Salaam, literally building the walls and roof, Michael told me, to keep the place safe.
If you have ever had the chance to visit east Africa, you can understand the need for cleaner burning fuel. If you haven't, picture this: thousands of mini-busses & trucks zipping across cities 24 hours a day, spewing out seemingly endless black plumes of smoke from their tailpipes into the lungs of pedestrians, motorcyclists, and other cars. With constant power shortages, diesel powered generators are always cranking to bring light, air conditioning, and power to hotels, apartments, offices, and shops. With the price and demand of petroleum diesel continually on the rise, why not try something new? If there was a way to develop a cheaper, cleaner, renewable substitute for petroleum diesel that comes not from sacrificing food crops (like corn), but instead uses wasted oil generated from the thousands of eateries across the city, why not give it a shot?
Mafuta Sasa Biodiesel Ltd. (literally: Oil Now) started with exactly that thought. And so far, while progress seems to be slow, the concept appears to be working. The company collects their WVO from hotels, restaurants, and street cart vendors from across Dar es Salaam for a small fee and brings it to their refinery, where it undergoes a carefully calculated process of mixing, heating, cooling, settling and sifting, through series of pipes, hoses, drums, and barrels before it is turned into biodiesel that meets the same exact specifications of local petroleum diesel. Currently they are producing up to 2,000 liters per week, and selling to hotels, apartments and even a bakery, and are actively expanding to increase both production capacity and sales.
With the price of petroleum diesel hovering at around 1,600-1,700 TSH ($1.15 USD) per liter, Mafuta Sasa's biodiesel is clearly the cheaper alternative at 1,250 TSH per liter. But price isn't their only concern. There are many barriers to expansion not the least of which is government policy. There is currently no legal framework or policies around biodiesel yet in Tanzania, which limits them to small-scale distribution, and bars access to more broader fuel markets like gas stations. This is not to say Mafuta Sasa is operating illegally - they have all their legal paperwork as a registered business and their biodiesel is certified as a diesel- but creating a separate class, category, and set of certifications for biodiesel may take some time.
Another challenge Mafuta Sasa faces is the market itself. Many people Michael comes across in Tanzania still think he's crazy when he says "We're making diesel from your used cooking oil!." The market has yet to understand the fuel, the differences between diesel and biodiesel (or the lack thereof), and will require quite a bit of education on the product.
Despite the challenges ahead, Michael remains optimistic and continues to see opportunities for Mafuta Sasa in Tanzania. He is beginning to explore alternative models for supply, such as contracting small-scale farmers to produce Jatropha seeds (a small crop from which oil can be extracted and used to create biodiesel), which would give rural farmers an income generating activity and increase Mafuta Sasa's production capacity. They have also incidentally stumbled upon a separate business as a result of the refinery's only byproduct: crude liquid soap. Glycerin, one of the inputs used to convert the WVO to usable biodiesel, can be easily used after the mixing process as a strong, black liquid soap. They call is Sash.
Living Goods, a San Francisco-based nonprofit social enterpise, is bringing affordable healthcare products and services door-to-door to the BoP throughout Uganda.
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"Hold on. I think [Gertrude] has stopped to sell some drugs", said Betty, the Kawempe Branch Manager for Living Goods. I stopped for a moment to check my surroundings. Normally, hearing that in an African slum would make me feel slightly uncomfortable. But not this time. I was in Tule, a slum in Uganda's capital city of Kampala, shadowing Living Goods Community Health Promoter (CHP) Gertrude Nambaliwa as she made her daily rounds checking on newborn infants and selling health products to her community.
Living Goods, a San Francisco-based social enterprise launched in 2008 by former TravelSmith Founder/CEO Chuck Slaughter, has been refining an innovative Avon-style network of door-to-door CHPs who are providing essential health products at prices affordable to those at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) across Uganda.
For those living at the BoP, access to affordable health care, for everything from common colds to severe or chronic sicknesses, diseases, or pre- and postnatal care, is an enormous challenge. Even symptoms as common as diarrhea can be fatal, if left untreated. According to the World Health Organization, Uganda's healthcare performance is still ranked as one of the worst in the world- the country is ranked 186th out of 191 nations. In the 2009 WHO World Health Statistics report, Uganda reported on average just one physician and seven nursing/midwife professionals per 10,000 people. Additionally, the “median availability of selected generic medicines” for the public sector, meaning how many public clinics had stock of essential generic medicines, was at just 20%.
While access and affordability are two of the most apparent barriers to proper health, there is a seemingly larger one looming overhead- knowledge. Most communities lack a knowledgeable health professional- someone who can offer a simple on-the-spot diagnosis of the most common problems (worms, diarrhea, malaria), and more importantly recommend proper treatment. Basic hygiene and symptoms of various illnesses are not “common knowledge”, as they are in most developing countries, thus even the most basic of problems- a small cough, for example- can go untreated and lead to something more severe.
To achieve the maximum impact through their work, Living Goods focuses on a short list of diseases that account for over two thirds of mortality and can be prevented and/or treated at very low cost, including malaria, diarrhea, worms, and TB. At the same time, Living Goods places a heavy emphasis on family planning and reproductive health services, an area where they say they can see measurable improvement in communities in a short span of time.
As I spent a few days with Living Goods in Uganda, visiting both urban and rural branches of their operations, I set out to understand exactly how they are addressing the challenges in Uganda, and what makes their approach innovative, unique and most importantly, effective. Through interviews, field visits, and spending time with several CHPs who were deeply rooted in their communities, I began to notice three key ingredients to Living Goods success so far in serving the BoP.
Accessibility: By visiting the customers door-to-door in their own neighborhoods, the CHPs gain direct access and become trusted and confidential sources of health-related knowledge, advice and products. They become in a sense first responders, with an inside view into the health conditions of their communities. This is critical, since in many areas where CHPs work, families avoid going for medical treatment until a problem is so severe that treatment may not be as effective. Living Goods approach allows conditions to be treated at their onsetand in many cases even be prevented.
Affordability: Living Goods purchases its essential health and personal care items (de-worming tablets, malaria medicine, oral rehydration tablets, fortified foods, first aid supplies, sanitary pads, contraceptives and more) at wholesale prices and distributes them to CHPs to sell directly to their community. This cuts out several steps of the supply chain which typically contribute to the BoP penalty of higher prices for the BoP,, and allows prices to remain cheaper than the competition.
Local Collaboration: Lastly, Living Goods partners with local community clinics and hospitals to ensure cooperation and mutual benefit. These facilities are often out of stock of essential items and can refer patients to the local CHP. This also works the oppositewhen a condition is too severe for a CHP to treat, patients are referred to clinics at a discounted rate.
Since launching field operations in early 2009, Living Goods now directly serves around 35,000 families across Uganda through 161 CHPs. Additionally, they have over 400 CHPs in a unique partnership with BRAC (one of the worlds largest development organizations), reaching a total of 75,000 families. While Living Goods operations are not yet entirely self sustaining, they are certainly getting there, and the CHPs seem to love their work. Their retention rate is sill hovering around 90%.
