Riding On Rural Networks To Bridge The Last Mile For Clean Cookstoves

Having a great solution is all very well but it’s simply no use if you can’t get it to the person who needs it. The challenge, as any social entrepreneur will tell you, is that whilst the right technology might be available to solve a problem, the poorest people remain disconnected from retail markets and have a low power to spend. The distribution channels simply don’t exist to get products across the so-called “last mile” – creating an issue of both access and affordability.

A recent article by Diana Jue (of the MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning) in the Stanford Social Innovation Review records four innovative ways in which social enterprises in India are trying to bridge the “last mile” to create a more efficient market for clean cookstoves.

One option is to team up with NGOs and Microfinance Institutions to take advantage of a pre-existing network of relationships. First Energy reaches out to small local NGOs while Envirofit leverages the distribution system of MFIs. The bundling of the stove with other financial products also enables the MFI channels to subsidize the cost of the stoves.

Second, working with rural dealers whose network markets, sells and distributes products. Oorja, for instance, uses Adharam Energy which deploys female village-level entrepreneurs and members of self-help groups who give live demonstrations and identify prospects as well as Villgro Stores which operates village shops.

Third, riding on the existing rural networks of other companies. For example, Prakti Designs is promoting its stoves through SELCO which sells home lighting systems.

Finally, companies such as Envirofit have realized that a good solution lies in the traditional rural trade networks with its established chain of distributors and retailers. Combining store presence with mass media advertising, Envirofit reaches out to a demographic cluster that makes its purchases from these stores.

The common factor seems to be the growing realization that to create a well-functioning market, integrating products such as cookstoves into existing market systems is extremely important. Creating a distribution network of their own is neither feasible nor viable but using existing channels at least ensures a pipeline that may not be perfect but can at least be adapted to reach the last mile.

Photo courtesy: Envirofit

Read the full article on: Innovations That Address the Last-Mile Distribution Challenge

Improved Cookstoves And The Price Barrier

The Indian cookstove industry is looking keenly at two developments that have the promise to change the landscape for propagation of improved cookstoves: The National Biomass Cookstove Initiative announced last December and the recently launched Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

In a report in the Indian newspaper, Mint, cookstove manufacturers make the point that the challenge of price and an effective route to market remain the toughest issues, given the competition from the traditional chulha. Mouhsine Serrar, founder of Prakti Design Lab says, “We’re competing with chulhas that cost next to nothing,”

“We’re learning that there’s a ceiling for stoves—around Rs1,000,” Serrar says. “The thing is, in villages, the man of the household doesn’t make the decision about a stove— the woman does. And the woman can’t take a decision to spend that much on a stove.”

Similarly, other stove companies are also trying to deal with the pricing issue. Envirofit, for example, sells 8,500 stoves a month in the four southern states and Maharashtra but the report quotes Atul Joshi, senior manager for sales and marketing, as saying that they need to sell  25,000 stoves each month to start breaking even.

Read the full feature: Replacing the traditional ‘chulha’ in the Mint