Skip to main content

Selling Energy in a Hot, Dark Place


Cross posted from MIT Sloan's Admissions blog
At 8pm the heat is still stifling in that slow-moving Equatorial way of things. Shadows dancing against the night sky could be large insects or small bats—a question I choose not to ponder for too long.
We’re in the rural community of Zingiziwa, Tanzania, about two hours from the dusty metropolis of Dar es Salaam. Thirty children and adults have crowded around the television—a half moon of people curious and transfixed by an electrical device in an off-grid world. We are about an hour from the closest power line, where few families have a working light-bulb in their homes, much less the television and DVD set that plays before them tonight.
The roadside TV, powered by solar energy stored in a battery, is a weekly marketing event for EGG-energy, an off-grid energy distribution company launched by MIT and Harvard grad students three years ago. My classmate Jorge and I are here for two weeks to round out a semester-long consulting project with EGG through the student-run club Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development(SEID). Outside of our regular MBA classes, Jorge and I (along with two other classmates) have been working with the company’s management team on their sales process and prospects. We’ll cap off our engagement this week with a two-day employee workshop on team-building and sales strategy.
Friends have asked how I have managed to work for an African social enterprise while also taking a full course load during my first semester at MIT. The truth is, Sloan makes it easy. Early on, I knew I wanted to learn more about energy; I also wanted to challenge my perspective of "social" business in the developing world.  Between SEID’s support system (including 2013 MBAs who worked with EGG last year) and MIT’s Independent Activities Period (for the entire month of January), setting up a productive consulting project EGG was a no-brainer with considerable pay-off. After two weeks in Tanzania, I will return to my second semester with assumptions tested and lessons refined.  The only question is where to apply them next.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things to love in December

December can be a tough month.  Winter sets in, darkness descending on day as if it has any right to the five o'clock hour.  Back off, nighttime.  I'm not finished wearing my sunglasses yet.  Oh, and winter clothes?  I much prefer you in boxes under the bed, thank you very little.  Yes, I have been a victim of S.A.D. in years gone past, but this winter, I've resolved to be a fighter.  With that in mind, here are my weapons of winter war, aka things to love in December: 1. The musical delight of Sarah Jarosz , with the energy of early Nickel Creek and the velvet voice of Sarah McLaughlin.  2. " CleanFlame "--fake firewood made from 100% recycled cardboard boxes.  It lights easy, burns long, and doesn't require Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, to cut down several trees in order to keep me warm. 3. My grandfather's memory, summarized beautifully by the Times-Picayune here . 4. Yoga.  Any kind, at any hour, even if it means le...
3 comments
Read more

On Thanksgiving

Up early (I love traveling backwards) and my first order of business is to shoot off a draft of a speech for next week's trip to Kenya.  Of course, a wireless connection is not easily come by in the home of my godfather the artist-ludite (who calls any computer an "evil black box of death").  Not to be deterred, I call my favorite uptown coffee shop, Refuel , fully expecting them to be closed on Thanksgiving Day.  To my great joy, Guthrie (the owner) picks up the phone.  "Well, we're not exactly open but I'm cooking up some grits and just brewed coffee.  Run on down here, girl!" I love this city. Minutes later, I'm sitting in front of my laptop, shaking my hips to classic New Orleans tunes.  The owner serves me two just-out-of-oven-still-steaming palmiers.  Hallelujah, lord these are delicious.  And sure, why not, I'll take a cup of coffee so long as it doesn't put you out.  So he cooks, I write, we both dance, and wow, there is just so m...
3 comments
Read more

5K & El Torito

I just ran an impromptu 5K.  With an Ambassador.  From Atlanta.  In Peru.  On the Pacific.  Did I mention I'm not much of a runner?  Turns out running isn't so bad when you have a enthusiastic partner, talking about Latin American politics and the dynamics of US foreign policy.  Whew! The day started with an early meeting at the US Embassy, where we spoke with colleagues who are working on financial inclusion here in Lima.  Then on to a local microfinance organization, Caja Nuestra Gente, to meet with the Executive Vice President.  Though he spoke the fastest Spanish I've heard since living in Chile, I managed to catch most of his presentation.  My favorite part: a new program that offers working capital loans to microentrepreneurs who collect, sort and sell recyclable materials to manufacturers.  Empowering low-income individuals and helping the environment.  I like it. After a delightful lunch with two government lawyers ...
2 comments
Read more