Glenergy at the Lighting Africa Conference
We were contributors, along with Philips and Schneider Electric, at the Lighting Africa 2010 conference in Nairobi. Our five delegates (one from Tanzania, two from Uganda, and two from Canada) at the trade show were kept busy as our booth was extremely well located and received continuous traffic during the
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entire conference. It was great to renew acquaintances and to see so many familiar faces from various times and places, and to introduce our products, business models and philosophies to many new people. Our KN and Edulight product lines were very well received. Our business model for a group of ten or more women to obtain a solar charging station and enough lamps to meet their own needs and enought surplus capacity to earn some income charging cell phones, batteries, and other peoples' lamps was as popular as was the model of a single entrepreneur taking on the central role and operating entirely as a business. Our various charging options (Small solar panel, Connection to a central charging station, and AC) allowed the various parties interested in bringing lighting to African communities to see how our products could fit into their plans. The conference was very well attended, with very high walk in rates from the local Kenyan business community--some of whom will become our dealers in Kenya. We had a delegation of five at our booth , and the 2-3 that we attended the booth with almost continuously busy. We handed out a lot of literature, and hundreds of business cards. We had not entered the 'Outstanding Products Competition' but we did get to see those products and exchange ideas. They, and their makers, are helping change the face of Africa.