Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 - (Page 15)

given week, we would discuss which design features to incorporate in our ﬁrst three products, how to negotiate with suppliers, how to price, sell and distribute units, how to prioritize partners, how to manage pilot tests across diverse cultures, and how to negotiate the legal issues of trademark, patents and manufacture. We’ve been piloting the lights in Asian countries like Cambodia and India and soon we’ll test them in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. We are lining up partners in Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and Burundi. When we scale up manufacturing, we will have to start the business process all over again for equity ﬁnancing, valuing our company, giving investors a D culture, I like the fact that we have a boxing bag hanging in the middle of the oﬃce, we can wear shorts to work and determining our speed and aggressiveness as we pursue our dreams. Now, for the last story. aw Shwe Mi lives in an elevated bamboo house in Southeast Asia with her nine children, and her husband, a day laborer, who makes about $1 a day. Daw Shwe Mi collects her neighbors’ vegetables and when the children are asleep, she washes the vegetables by candlelight and wakes up at 5 a.m. to deliver them to the market. When we met in late 2006, she was using candles for light at night because danger and a local law required that each house have a ﬁre area with buckets of water and sand outside. She used a ﬂuorescent tube and battery but it died within weeks. However, when she tried our light the battery still didn’t need recharging after two weeks and she hadn’t bought a candle in that time. Zero expense. For the ﬁrst time in her life, she was not worried the candles would tip over and ignite the house and her children were able to study easily. e light we provided is brighter so she can clean the vegetables quicker and better and can, therefore, charge a higher price for her produce at the market. She told us how much they loved using the light. Daw Shwe Mi is exactly where we want to start; among the millions of tailors, seamstresses, ﬁshermen, artisans, weavers, and others who work for a living at night. Melody Jenkins N ext time you are traveling in Asia and Africa, look out for d.light design-branded products on village shelves. en I will know we have succeeded. In the meantime, if you want to start a project and empower entrepreneurs to sell or ﬁnance our lights, we are looking for partners to create big change across entire continents. I would also like to make our lights available to every student in the world and particularly to Finagnon, who just had another operation at a hospital and is doing much better. His high school teacher says he is a model student. e future is bright. A small LED light powered by the sun promises to replace dangerous and more expensive kerosene lanterns in villages of many countries beyond a power grid. percentage of the company, fundraising and pushing for quality production and high speed product design. e stress on all of us is high and the degree of uncertainty in a social enterprise like ours is tremendous. We have assumed huge legal bills to be incorporated, and larger obligations will come with foreign contracts. As for myself, I love building our company the diesel dealer–they don’t have kerosene–was too far away. She spends about 15 percent of her income on candles: one for her two eldest children to study, and the other for light so she can cook and clean up the house. She had to make one of her older children watched the younger ones so they didn’t knock over the candles and burn down their bamboo house. It was a real Sam Goldman was a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Guinagourou, Benin, from 2001 to 2005 and co-founded a Benin organization to promote and commercialize Moringa oleifera. He is committed to eradicating kerosene lanterns and is the chief executive oﬃcer of d.light design in Palo Alto, California. See www.dlightdesign.com and a podcast of his work at www.socialedge.org/blogs/ let-there-d-light. WorldView 15 Sam Goldman http://www.dlightdesign.com http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/let-there-d-light http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/let-there-d-light

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 Contents President's Note Lafayette Park Note to Readers Commentary Letter from India Commentary Letter from Botswana Letter from Ha Teboho Letter from Jumbi Valley Letter from Mununga Letter from Medellin Giving Back Community News

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

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