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)
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.
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!
CNN Hero: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/11/cnnheroes.wadongo/index.html
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