Selling Solar Panels in an African Village Market
There an old saying that I love to hear once in a while. Keep your options option.
It was Saturday night in Iringa. I had Sunday off and was skimming through my Lonely Planet book to see what to do.
Then I got an interesting invitation from Destory, one of the managers from Neeman Crafts, a SolarAid partner organization. Would you like to go to the village market with me to sell solar panels?
I’ve heard much about the Tanzanian village markets, where villagers from some of the remote regions of the country would come to buy and sell goods. It was too good of an offer to turn down and I immediately said, “Of course” without really knowing what I was getting myself into.
The trip to the village market started at 5am in the morning. We had to squeeze into a packed dala-dala (the african minibus) and then jump into a Lorie, one of those open-backed farm trucks. I was a bit surprised when I was asked to jump on the Lorie (as I thought that the transfer will involve an air-conditioned bus). But no, the air conditioning comes from the African breeze, and the bus was a practical transport vehicle where I shared space with used clothing merchants, fruit vendors, and a rooster.
When I arrived in the village market, we set up our solar shop on the busiest part of the market. The villagers were amazed at the amazing power for the Sun. It was a joy to watch their eyes widen when the say a radio play with the use of batteries. Most radios here are run by batteries with cost the villagers money and harm their environment. The sun rays provided a clean and limitless alternative to those batteries.
We sold nearly Tsh260,000 worth of solar panels that day, at an average of Tsh20,000 each. Not bad in a country where the average income is only a few dollars a day.
The happy customers told me that there are three reasons why they buy the panel: To provide lighting so their children can study at night, to power their radios, and to recharge their mobile phone.
I realized from this experience that a solar system that can do all three is essential in Tanzania, as these villagers can only afford to set of products. I also realized that the education power is powerful, as for every person who bought a panel, I know at least four more are trying to save money to buy them, or are waiting to get input from the first set of buyers before buying one for themselves. Thus the market is there and it is hot!