The Good life Short film

Its refreshing to see more people thinking "outside the box" and starting to embrace renewable energy (RE) options. Meaningful development can only occur with access to affordable power.  Access the to reliable power #solar4TheMasses will definitely foster  productivity and improve quality of life across the board.

 

December RE & Entrepreneurship contest winner emerges

Kudos to Rufai Balogun on becoming the latest winner in the Solar Jooce RE & Entrepreneurship youth challenge at the 'Dustbin Estate' in the Ajegunle area of Lagos State.

At the 13th December workshop held at the youth center in Ajegunle. Eight attendees were shown an actual Direct Current (DC) iron and asked to compete to win one in an individual essay contest. The objective was to have them think creatively on how to start a micro business in their neighborhood using solar powered appliances in combination with DC power from solar panels.

A Vimeo video titled 'AC or DC' by Nextek Power (http://vimeo.com/16061080) was shown to illustrate the benefits of DC over AC power.

Six contestants successfully submitted their one page essay, two short days later on 15th December 2014. The youths each showed marked improvements in their understanding of micro businesses by including concepts such as 'Pay back period' in their planning as previously suggested by a judge from Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) in the September 2014 contest.

The contest judges from Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) and United Nations Habitat (Kenya) graciously accepted to judge the contest entries and did a phenomenal job grading all entries and providing insightful feedback to the youths. The judges each graded entries on a 20 point scale taking into account factors such as originality, creativity, sustainability and clarity in expressing their business ideas.

Rufai Balogun won by achieving the highest cumulative score of 34 points.  Heinrich Böll Foundation awarded him 19 points out of a possible 20, while United Nations Habitat awarded him

15 points out of 20.

Rufai received his prize from Solar Jooce on Monday, 22nd December 2014 at the youth center in the 'Dustbin Village' in Ajegunle, Lagos.

Excerpts of comments from Heinrich Böll Foundation on Rufai's entry titled 'Easy Ironing' went as follows:

“Easy Ironing” made its name a part of the marketing strategy – beautiful idea. He has done his market survey and proposes to iron a shirt for free if somebody brings a new customer. He knows his operating costs (N 200/week) although he did not consider them for the payback period. He is the only one who thought about using profit for the purchase of the battery so that his operating costs reduce. It’s a very creative proposal and well written."

Dustbin Village youth gaining RE experience and build confidence

Solar Jooce continues to receive valuable feedback from the winners of the first youth RE and Entrepreneurship contest, held in September 2014.

Alternating possession of the prize Solar kit between each winner fostered internal competition and caused each team member to be more creative in generating revenue. Parents also became involved in supervising their children's new enterprise.

The winners' interaction with their customers provided valuable information on what features customers liked the most, and what product features the micro business thought could be improved.

Solar Jooce followed up every two weeks with visits to the dustbin village youth center in Ajegunle to facilitate the hand-over of the solar kit between the winning team members as well as review their written reports on running their micro enterprise.

Overall, the winners are showing confidence and understanding on the basics of solar power and how to start a micro enterprise. Below are excerpts from a report by Faith Eze.

NEXT STEP

Solar Jooce will conduct the last Youth RE & Entrepreneurship workshop for this year on Saturday 13th December 2014 at the LOTS charity Foundation youth center in Ajegunle, Lagos.

The session will focus on the advantages of using DC versus AC current.

Each of the 10 students will be challenged to write a one page essay on how they can utilise a DC (battery-operated) iron in running a micro business.

The prize for the best entry will be a brand new DC iron, designed to work off-grid.

Representatives of the Heinrich Boll Foundation (Nigeria) and the UN Habitat (Kenya) have graciously agreed to judge this round of entries as they did in the first round in September 2014.

May the best young lady or young man win!

Winning team puts business plan in motion

GA winning Youth team emerged from the Solar Jooce Renewable Energy & Entrepreneurship competition held in September 2014. The prize was a portable solar generator comprising of two lighting points (LED and T5), DC powered table fan, phone charger, radio, and SD card slot.

The group –  DIRECT POWER (Aliyah Odufowoke and Faith Eze) are now receiving ongoing support from Solar Jooce to carry out their business plan, which is to generate revenue from a portable solar generator.

Solar Jooce got parents of both winners involved, and like their children, received training on how to operate the portable solar generator. The parents would then be in a better position to help their children run their new small business.

Each team member agreed to take possession of the solar generator for two weeks at a time, and report on their entrepreneurial experience.

Team member Aliyah Odufowoke  took the first turn and wrote a report after her first two weeks with the portable solar generator. 

                                                                          

Excerpt from Aliyah Odufowoke’s report:

“So it would have been more convenience if the charging points are like two each for a kind of phone.

I would be also glad if the bulb, florescent  and fan will have the own separate solar panel and battery because it has been difficult for me to rent differently to different people at the same time. A person may want to charge his/her phones and the solar generator would have been rented to another person”

RESULTS

A combination of verbal feedback as well as a written report submitted indicated:

1.       That they would have preferred to have each feature of the portable solar system separate in order to serve different customers simultaneously. A preference was expressed, for instance, for higher charging capacity where several phones can be charged at the same time, while catering to other customers who may require lighting at another location.

2.       Some street vendors requested very specific features as opposed to a bundle of features built into the solar generator.

3.       Team member Aliyah’s entrepreneurial efforts yielded N950.00 in revenue within the two week period she had the solar kit. She plans to reinvest her earnings in her business in order to grow.    

OUR OBSERVATION

The parents getting on board has been a major asset. The submitted report may not be sophisticated, but a lot can be gleaned from it. Most importantly grasping the concept of solar power as a viable source of energy and developing an entrepreneurial mindset make it all worthwhile.   

NEXT STEP

The portable solar generator has been handed over to team member Faith Eze. We await her report detailing her experience and results.

L-R (Faith Eze, Mrs. Ada Eze, Mrs. Fatimoh Odufowoke and Aliyah Odufowoke)

Ajegunle females win Solar Jooce RE award; workshop participants receive talk on energy-efficient homes

With Ajegunle youths at the prize presentation for the Solar Jooce RE & Entrepreneurship workshop: (L-R) Dave Agbakoba (Founder, Solar Jooce); Ekaete Bassey-Fujah (LEED certified Architect); Bassey Etuk (volunteer Engineer)

September 29, 2014, Lagos, Nigeria… - The Solar Jooce RE and Entrepreneurship workshop (designed for 10 youth from Dustbin Estate in Ajegunle area of Lagos state) ended on 30th August, 2014.

The workshop ended with a competition in which the 10 youths, grouped into teams of two, submitted basic “lemonade stand” styled entrepreneurial plans on how they would deploy a portable solar home system (consisting of LED lights, phone charger, radio, table fan) to start a micro business in their community.

The contest entries were judged by representatives from the United Nations (UN) Habitat, Nairobi and the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) on a total of 40 points. Some of the criteria used by judges included originality, creativity, sustainability, relevance to community, clarity of idea presentation and inclusiveness (team work).

Competition winners (L-R): Miss Eze Faith and Miss Odufowoke Aliyah

Miss Odufowoke Aliyah and Miss Eze Faith emerged winners with a cumulative score of 33 points for their submission titled DIRECT POWER. The DIRECT POWER entry proposed using the lighting feature (LED bulb and T5 light tube) of the solar home system to operate a mobile food service business, while also charging a fee to neighborhood customers to have their phones charged. Aliyah and Faith planned to use their business proceeds to acquire more units in order to expand their business.

Said Dr. Vincent Kitio of the UN Habitat: “Good identification of the problem. Good marketing strategy. It is clear what will be the product/service to provide to customers. The cost benefit is not clear, as DC fan and bulbs are expensive. But good intentions.”

Ms. Monika Umunna of Heinrich Böll Foundation added: “The food/catering sector is definitely a rewarding and expandable market for RE. So it’s a very good idea to start with small restaurants to spread the knowledge and use of RE. Once there is a break through it could be expanded to other providers in the food business (i.e the people using push carts to offer hot snacks or tea/coffee etc). Here again, the proposal concentrates on providing electricity in the night but the project owners also mention that they would use their income for the purchase of more batteries. So the business model is quite clear. A market survey with positive feedback was done before developing the proposal”.      

Solar kit being handed to prize winners

Hosted by the LOTS Charity Foundation in Ajegunle, the award ceremony took place on Saturday 27th September 2014 where Miss Odufowoke Aliyah and Miss Eze Faith received a multifunctional portable Solar Home System to pursue their winning idea. 

At the event, Ms. Ekaete Bassey-Fujah, a successful LEED certified Architect, shared with the youth her experience as a professional, the benefits of energy-efficient homes, and an inspirational story of a poor Malawian boy who taught himself to build a windmill from scrap and rose to international acclaim.

In the coming months, sustained training for the 10 youth will cover entrepreneurial business plan development, utilisation of Direct Current appliances, and practical assembling of RE appliances such as solar lanterns.

The ultimate reward from these workshops will be for the youth to become change agents for energy efficiency and Renewable Energy technologies within their communities.

‘Dustbin Estate’ Youth RE & Entrepreneurship contest RESULTS in!

Thanks to  Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) and  United Nations Habitat (Kenya) for accepting to judge the contest entries from each of the 5 teams. The judges provided detailed and insightful assessments of all entries. The scores from both judges will be tallied and the team with the highest cumulative score will be awarded the star prize (portable solar generator) to pursue their winning idea. The winning team will be announced on Saturday 27^th September at the youth centre in ‘Dustbin Estate’ Ajegunle, Lagos.

No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid — Lupita Nyong’o

Youth RE & Entrepreneurial workshop contest entries all in

Tolu Sangosanya (‘Mayor' of Dustbin Estate) in the foreground & some of the youth contestants in the background 

The RE & entrepreneurial workshop for 'Dustbin Estate' youth wrapped up on August 30^th 2014. Ten youths working in teams of two accepted a challenge to submit business ideas by September 12^th 2014 on how they would use a portable solar generator to start a neighbourhood micro business. All five teams rose to the challenge and turned in their ideas before the deadline.  

Entries will now be judged by representatives from Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) and United Nations Habitat (Kenya). A 20 point scale will be used to rate each entry. The team with the highest cumulative score will win the grand prize – A portable solar generator!

A big thank you goes to Tolu Sangosanya and Mr. Leo (Youth computer instructor) for providing guidance to the children as they worked hard on their ideas.

Good luck to all the teams and may the best idea WIN!

Day II: Renewable Energy & Entrepreneurship training for Dustbin Estate Youth

At the ‘Dustbin Estate’ Youth Centre: Solar Jooce trains young participants on Day 2 of the RE & Entrepreneurship workshop

Day 2 of the Renewable Energy & Entrepreneurship workshop held on 30th August, 2014 at the Dustbin Estate Youth Centre (Ajegunle area of Lagos state, Nigeria).

Some of the content of Day 2 training included:

• Rehash of Day 1
• Introduction to a working model of a solar generator (its components)
• Benefits of Direct Current (DC) versus Alternating Current (AC)
• Introduction to the concept of the 'Lemonade Stand' entrepreneurial model (the structures of a micro-business)
• Practical field work - determining solar panel orientation, basic trouble shooting of a solar generator etc

Field work: ‘Dustbin Estate’ Youth learn about proper orientation of solar panels. Miss Faith Eze practises with a handheld compass

Working in teams of two, workshop participants now have two weeks to submit ideas on how to launch (and sustain) an entrepreneurial venture with a portable solar generator.

(L-R): Tolu Sangosanya (‘Mayor’ of Dustbin Estate) looks on as Rasheed Azeez (RE & Entrepreneurship Youth participant ) practises proper orientation of a solar panel. Supervising are Engr. Bassey Etuk and and Dave Agbakoba (Solar Jooce)   

To help pursue their entrepreneurial idea, the team with the best submission will win a portable solar generator, which consists of:  a solar panel, built-in battery, charge controller, and accessories (LED light bulb, an LED-T5 tube, table fan, built-in FM radio, phone charging kit, USB outlets, and an SD card slot). 

Portable solar powered unit that workshop participants will be competing for

Entries will be judged by representatives from the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nigeria) and the United Nations Habitat (Kenya).  

The August workshop is the first of a series of workshops designed for 'Dustbin Estate' Youth, and will segway into pure PV technician training.