After a short meeting at Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel (who wanted to meet us to heat the tap water;HiLight does NOT heat water, but I know some companies working with this perhaps I should connect you?), we moved on to Care International/VSL; the community based banking system we discussed the night before. We got to meet Mr George Mkoma, heading more than 15,000 VSL groups in Tanzania, and is in contact with additional 15,000 alumni groups. Again, he liked the product, could see how it could benefit the teachers and others, and again - he wanted to buy the HiLight on the spot!
- We are willing to use this product in our channels, and can use our structure to provide local training.
To round up the Friday meetings, we met with mr Chris Steenkamp and George van der Werken at Game, a major retail chain present in about 14 countries in Africa - and expanding. They agreed to give HiLight a try in their store, and if it would be a success, they saw the possibility to provide our product in other countries!
Busy Friday, and Saturday continued in the same way; meeting up with with mr Matthew J. Matimbwi at TAREA, Tanzania Renewable Energy Association.This membership organisation connects players in the industry of renewable energy, lobbying at governmental level and works against counterfeit and substandard products. We were really happy to hear this, since one of the problems we could face in the future is copying of our product!
- We are running the project "Replacing kerosene lanterns", using radio, TV and newsletters to communicate the message.
Most likely, this is a membership organisation that we will be joining!
We also met again with Ernest Mtayo, the teacher we met our first night in Dar es Salaam, to get his input on the use and suggestions for improvements. He was happy being selected as one of our long term testers, and he will keep the HiLight and give us monthly reports on the result. This is a great way to follow-up how the UV light and heat affects the product over time.
- I have electricity at home, but I still prefer to use this one, he says and points at HiLight. I like the idea of using energy from the sun! I fasten it to my back-pack, and lots of people has come up and asked me what it is!
All in all - our first two days back in Dar has provided us with additional clues on ways forward and a new doors have opened along the way! I already see that we will soon face the difficulty of selecting what customers to prioritze, and how to solve the distribution - one of the main issues according to our meetings.
On Sunday, the team took a day trip to Zanzibar. Fishermen is one of the possible customer groups that keep popping up in our discussions, and the HiLight would be perfect, considering the strong light, water resistent construction and that it floats! The weather gods was in their most giving mode, and provided us with as much rain as we possible could take - and some more. :-)
3 comments:
Wow guys... So much happening. Cannot wait to meet you when you get back. And Rafael, I want to hear some stories! Your voice is waiting to be heard!
I liked yuor pictures, now I miss them. Can't you make photoes of the people who you are meeting?
@Bergman - I totally agree! We make photos, but have difficulties uploading them. However, please come back in a few days, we will update the posts with photos once we have a better connection!
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