Monday, July 18, 2011

Already planning the next vacation :)

So since the announcement of me going to Kenya came out, several people have expressed interest to visit. I say, EVERYONE IS INVITED!  I don't have many vacation days, folks are welcome to stay with me if I'm in town during the year.  However, my fellowship ends in June, and July/Aug is Wildebeest Migration season from Serengeti in Tanzania to Maasai Mara in Kenya. While it's the high tourist season, I heard the experience/view is definitely worth the cost.  I'm posting a poll on the # of people interested, if there's enough, I might just organize a group tour myself for efficiency. Please vote on the right if you are interested.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Embarking on a d.lightful detour

5 months ago, I booked my vacation to Kenya and Rwanda, thinking that I will probably never plan to set foot on the African continent, so I should visit while I have friends living there.  The trip was delightful, it was refreshing to be so close to nature, and seeing the interdependence and respect mother nature and her creatures have for each other.  It was a sobering reminder that office work and modernization is day by day making me a little less of an animal/human and more of a machine (as Kwany fondly nicknamed me) that spend 80% of my waking moment churning out excel sheets and powerpoint decks, and less time connecting with friends or appreciating the world that gave me life.  Despite a wonderful vacation in Africa, I thought it was a check-the-box, been-there-done-that type of thing, and I probably won't be returning any time soon.
Ironically, shortly after I returned to the US, I was offered an opportunity to go back to Kenya and work as a "Go-to-Market Fellow" for a social enterprise called d.light, an international social enterprise that develops and sells ultra affordable solar light solutions to serve people without access to reliable electricity.  I was familiar with the company previously given my interest in social enteprise, so was very excited when I got the opportunity.  This was the perfect 30th birthday gift, a wonderful year-long detour in my career to pursue something that could potentially not only allow me to do something meaningful, but also gain a rare opportunity to learn and grow on both personal and professional level.




  • Video of how d.light started by Sam Goldman, one of the co-founder








  • As with any start ups, my responsible territory is broadly defined as Nigeria + "Rest of Africa", which is consist of all of sub-saharan Africa except the East African Community (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda...etc.).  So curious as to what "Rest of Africa" means, I googled a map of Africa and realized that I'm gonna be in charged of a couple dozen countries (a good portion of which I confessed have never heard of) with many different cultures and languages that I will need to learn.  Having been only managing various tiny segments of a US market for the last 6 years, this would certainly be a change.  On top of the broad geographical scope, an exciting task awaits me. D.light has just set up their new office in Kenya and is planning to aggressively expand further in the continent.  I will be working with the team to test and define distribution strategy and consumer education plans.  The questions we need to answer are: (1) how do you explain what a solar lantern is to a consumer who has never even experienced electricity, let along be convinced that he needs a solar lantern?  and (2) how do you get the products to the hands of the consumers who lives in villages spread miles and miles apart without an established distribution network?  (I would love to hear any ideas or resources if anyone has it)

    So in a few weeks, I'll be on a plane to Nairobi and 9/1 will mark the beginning of the year-long adventure.  The plan is to document any interesting things/thoughts that I have along the way (we asll as to reassure people that I'm alive).  I would love to hear everyone's comment or advice and to keep in touch via this virtual interface!

    The Double Bottom Line and Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid

    Almost a third of the world's population earns $2.50 or less a day. Consider also that 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate.  There's something saddening and infuriating about this equation here.

    The world's product/services and pricing models are mostly designed to target people at the top of the world's socioeconomic ladder.  As a result, there's often a lack of access to basic products/services as well as a "poor man's premium", which makes it more costly for a poor person (vs. a wealthier individual) to sustain his/her family.  I cannot recall how many "revolutionary mascara" commercials I've seen in the last year. I cannot help but wonder, how many different mascaras does the world need before we would consider reallocating a small % of the R&D and marketing resource dedicated to market that product to help do something more impactful to people's lives?  Why make the top marketers beat their heads against the wall trying to come up with an innovative soap that exfoliates your skin 10% better when there's perhaps an easier task that could create a more more meaningful impact if they instead spend the energy to expand the distribution of their most basic soap SKU and educate people in Africa or India to wash their hands, something that can prevent deadly diseases and saves hundreds of lives?

    With that said, altruism doesn't pay the bill, which explains why many people wait until they've achieved their definition of career "success" before dedicating their time on things that gives them more meaning.  But it doesn't have to be that way!  There is money to be made while doing good, what a novel and brilliant concept!  Considering the size of the market - 1/3 of the world's population, how much would you pay to access a market with that kind of potential!?  Seth Godin and a video (probably made for Acumen Fund)  does a good job explaining how to tap that market (with a nice little blurb on d.light, which makes me proud)
    The concept of the double bottom line and social enterprises is extremely fascinating and exciting to me.  It gives capitalism a taste of its own medicine, and transforms a model that sometimes exploits the bottom (as illustrated by this photo I found on the net) by making profit-generation and social good creation interdependent.  So far, it seems as though the microfinance sector has been the one industry that has truly crack the code while companies like TOMS shoes or eBay's WorldofGood seems to have achieved mixed success.  It would be interesting to see how this sector grows in the future