Solar power - sunshine is free

The other week in the UK, headline news was the rising cost of commuter fares into London. The statistic that hit me wasn’t the increase - it was the average amount someone spends on travel getting into London which can be upto 15% of their income.

That number - 15% stood out. Because that’s the proportion a person in Kenya with no access to grid electricity spends on buying kerosene for lighting.

Now I commute to London from a town called Reading. If I had that travel cost taken away it would be Christmas come early, birthday and bonus all into one (not that I get a bonus or want one!). It’s the first time I personally began to see how huge 15% really is. 

And that’s not even in the context of kerosene and the impact it would have on the lives of people. So what does ‘15%’ mean for someone in Kenya that uses kerosene every day for lighting?

If they could remove the burden of buying kerosene it would be transformational. Their disposable income will increase by 15%. They could use that extra income to buy what they liked : a better diet, medicines, towards their children’s education, maybe to start a small enterprise. 

And the answer to no more kerosene? A solar light of course.

It doesn’t stop there with a cleaner better a safe light comes more time. Time children can invest in studying, time a family can use to run an enterprise, or time simply to socialise. It’s the one commodity we can’t get enough of. 

That’s the power of the sun and a simple solar light. 

I’m really excited. We’ve created a new sort of currency at SolarAid.

1 SL = £ 6 or $9

An ‘SL’ is a solar light of course. 

SolarAid is on a mission to sell 300,000 solar lights by the end of March to people in Africa who use kerosene for light. 

Every time we sell a solar light we worked out it currently costs SolarAid £6.

The £6 pays for the cost of promoting solar lights through our SunnyMoney teams in remote rural communities. It’s the cost of offering families choice of quality solar lights that meet their needs. Choice. Isn’t that a great word? That’s the power when people become ‘customers’ not recipients of aid. 

So you could say £6 cost of getting a solar light into the hands of someone prepared to buy it. In effect you’re sharing the cost of a solar light.

So we have 300,000 solar lights to share the cost with. And the great thing is the more we sell the more that cost will fall. Then we won’t need charity (not that charity is a bad thing - it’s just its good to know we have an end plan).

“How many lights would you like to fund?’ feels so much more powerful than asking “How much would you like to give?”. And when individuals do that remarkable and magical act of donating we can truly say your £60 gift has funded 10 solar lights.

So we are going to launch a campaign to ask the world to share the cost of a solar light.

This is why I am so excited. 

I’m up for sharing the cost of 30 over the year. That’s just £15 a month.

299,970 to go.

How many will you fund?

It was with great relief I spoke to Sean Conway today. Sean is attempting to break the record for cycling round the world and raise £100,000 for our work in Zambia.

As you may of read on his social media feed he was hit by a truck on his USA leg of his epic journey a few days ago. He is currently in Arkansas.

Sean is in good hands and is being looked after by some extraordinary American hospitality.

However the bike is a write off.

Sean is clearly made of stronger stuff.

When I called him he was inspecting the remainder of his bike to see what parts he can rescue – in particular the valuable hub or gear system.

Thankfully Sean is not in any pain. He initially thought he might have a compression fracture in his spine but he thinks this is possibly an old injury. He does however have some torn leg tendons.

But that isn’t stopping him. He is determined to get back on a bike and carry on.

If you follow Sean on Facebook or Twitter you will see he has been offered all sorts of help to get him back on the road. In Sean’s words everyone has been “super supportive”.

Sean is speaking to Guinness to find out whether he can continue his attempt. The rules say he can stop the clock when he comes across an “impassable barrier”. A truck sounds like a pretty impassable barrier to me. Before the crash Sean was level pegging with race leaders.  

Here at SolarAid we admire Sean because he, like SolarAid, has set himself a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG). Ours is to banish the kerosene lamp from Africa by the end of the decade. Sean’s BHAG is to break the world record for cycling round the world (in about 100 days). We won’t forget the lesson - despite what happens - don’t give up.

Sean has raised over ten thousand pounds so far to help provide solar light for schools and families in Africa – to send a message of support and donate go to http://www.justgiving.com/bike12 

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Regional Finals of the Hult Global Case Challenge in Boston. It was an extraordinary experience. The concept is simple : three social causes, pitch their biggest challenges and business students from all over the world pitch their solutions - with a purse of $1 million to make it happen. 

SolarAid was one of those chosen. So my role was to take part as a judge ( X-Factor style).

As well as big picture solutions the presentations were packed with gems of ideas  ranging from: new look business cards for our social enterprise, SunnyMoney, a radio advert in Africa, and a fantastic word of mouth marketing campaign to name a few.

So much energy went into the thinking by each team. No doubt many will have felt deflated at not going through to the final ( I know I always did when I lost a pitch  working for a marketing agency). Unfortunately we could only choose one winner to go to the New York Final (I would like to have taken all of the teams back home to the UK with me).

But it occurred to me doesn’t have to end. Those gems still exist. And the passion of the students presenting to me has planted so many ideas in my head. If these ideas help us on our mission it would be great to make them happen.

A lot of dedication, time, and commitment went into understanding SolarAid’s issues by all of the teams that reached this stage of the competition.  I truly hope, those who took part in the Hult Global Case Challenge will continue to engage with us (and tell others about what we are trying to achieve).

After all we are not going to solve the big hairy audacious goal of banishing the kerosene lamp from Africa on our own.