Competition, Expansion in Tunisia’s Future

Posted on 3 February 2011 by oechslele

For months, the world has followed the unrest and protest in North Africa stemming from unemployment throughout Tunisia and Egypt. America.gov asked several Tunisian entrepreneurs to share their stories of business development amid the chaos in their region.

Ali Belakhoua

Ali Belakhoua is the Managing Director of STARZ Electronics. He is a Tunisian-American Electrical Engineer with a degree from the University of MO Rolla and was born in St. Louis, Missouri. For more information about Ali’s company, visit www.starzelectronics.com.

The future is in Tunisia. When my family returned to Tunisia in 2002, we realized that it was the perfect place for starting a small company. We founded STARZ Electronics, an electronic and cable assembly manufacturer, in Bizerte with only six employees. Now we count more than 80 permanent and temporary workers, and we are continuously re-investing in equipment to expand our capabilities.

Tunisia has an abundant supply of educated youth with a high work ethic. We have used this asset to grow our business and be very competitive. I would encourage young graduates to attain a well-rounded education with technical training and a focus on language skills. The government also provides a great deal of help for youth recruitment and training.

Our proximity to Europe makes Tunisia ideal for serving the entire European market and North America. Surface transportation is rapid and inexpensive between Tunisia and Europe, so we provide our customers a perfect alternative to subcontracting work in Eastern Europe. Our labor costs are almost as competitive as those in China. English and French language skills are also keys to our success.

The challenge is to continue to expand. We need to spread the word about Tunisia’s potential and highlight the countless success stories of businesses that have found the perfect operating environment here. For companies moving operations from Europe or the U.S., Tunisia is an ideal alternative to China.

I Work, Therefore I Exist

Posted on 2 February 2011 by oechslele

Chema Gargouri

Chema Gargouri is the manager and major shareholder of the Centre for Applied Training, a private company focused on business development. Six years ago, Gargouri founded the Tunisian American Association for Management Studies, a community development and micro lending NGO located in a very poor area of Tunisia’s capital.

For individuals facing exclusion and unequal chances, entrepreneurship is not only an economic answer for unemployment, it builds self-esteem and human dignity. The failure of our society to make men and women feel like full citizens can only lead to frustration, humiliation and despair. Mohamed Bouazizi’s act of desperation is a tragic example of what can happen when opportunities for young men and women seem non-existent.

Youth are entrepreneurial by nature, but efforts to encourage and support these tendencies were stymied in the past. Today, we must do more to enhance that entrepreneurial spirit and attitude. This is not a choice, but a duty. As a Tunisian woman and an entrepreneur, I recognize that the only difference between me and a micro entrepreneur in a poor community is opportunity. I am no more intelligent or competent than a Mohamed Bouazizi. I am just luckier.

The old regime did not support an independent civil society, including development NGOs. But in 2006, our NGO, the Tunisian American Association for Management Studies (TAAMS), started working in Borj Louzir, a poor and sensitive area of Tunis. With the support of a handful of international organizations that believed in our mission, TAAMS succeeded in reaching more than 400 families, 1000 individuals and 350 micro entrepreneurs.

TAAMS’s relationship with our entrepreneurs is built on micro lending coupled with a package of services to their families. Our micro-credit programs offer households the chance to secure an ongoing income, while our youth programs help the children of these entrepreneurs improve their results at school. Thus, the story that I can share is best summed up by the testimony of one 9-year-old boy: “Thank you, TAAMS, for saving me and my family.” I will never forget his face and what a gift he gave me personally.

Upstart from the West Bank Ponders Her Next Startup

Posted on 12 May 2010 by guest

Waed al Taweel is one of many entrepreneurs in Washington recently for the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. When al Taweel was in high school in Ramallah, she started Teen Touch, a company that organizes special events. She has since sold the firm.

Before becoming chief executive of online shoe store Zappos.com, Tony Hsieh co-founded and then sold an advertising company to Microsoft Corporation.

Craig Newmark is founder of Craigslist Inc., an online classified ads company that is private and for-profit.

Waed al Taweel

Waed al Taweel:
When I was a high school student in St. Joseph’s School in Ramallah on the West Bank, I started my own business, named Teen Touch. It convinced me that entrepreneurship offers a way to relieve the hardships in the lives of Palestinian youths.

I speak from experience, although I am only 20 years old. I hired 28 classmates to staff the Teen Touch business. We specialized in organizing social events, such as birthday celebrations. We took care of all arrangements, from sending out invitations to renting the facilities to catering the food. In addition, we sometimes decorated buildings on holidays.

I entered Teen Touch in a competition for young entrepreneurs sponsored by the INJAZ organization, which trains young people in business skills in 12 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. I was named “best student CEO in the Arab world,” and Teen Touch was named “the best student company in the Arab world.” What great honors!

My next business plan – on hold until after I finish my university studies – is to build a recreation and entertainment center for Palestinian youths. The center will have a bowling alley, a skating rink, a miniature golf course, and a library with books and magazines from many countries. There is a big need for this kind of a center. Palestinian young people don’t have many places to spend their free time. It is usually in the streets or in their homes.

I know that launching this kind of a center will not be easy because it is difficult to get access to capital. But I have confidence that I can succeed through proper planning, adequate management and perseverance. (See profile article on Waed al Taweel).

Tony Hsieh

Tony Hsieh:
I love the idea of building a recreation and entertainment center for youth. My suggestion would be to have the young people help build it, which will give them a sense of ownership and accomplishment once it is complete.

In my upcoming book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, I write about one framework for happiness that consists of four elements: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (the number and depth of your relationships), and being part of something bigger than yourself.

Involving Palestinian teenagers in the design and construction of the youth center would hit on all four of these things. They would have a sense of control over what the youth center eventually looks like, which would cause them to be more likely to use the center once it has been built. They would be able to see the daily progress of their work. They would feel more connected to the other young people working on the project. And they would all be involved in building something that was bigger than just
themselves.

Their involvement doesn’t have to be limited to just design input and construction help. They could become part-owners of the business, or it could be set up as a co-operative. Over time, they could learn various skills such as fundraising (sales) and managing day-to-day operations.

Craig Newmark

Craig Newmark:
This effort to build a recreation center for Palestinian youth sounds really good to me. I don’t know much about the field, but I know part of the solution will be to start connecting with other folks, particularly in your target market in the West Bank. Start connecting with people via Facebook, Twitter, whatever works for you. In particular check out ArabCrunch.net.

If you want, email me at craig(at)craigslist.org, and I’ll do an e-mail introduction between you and Gaith Sager, who runs it. Anyone can e-mail me. If I don’t respond in, let’s say, 36 hours or so, e-mail me again. That should work.

It doesn’t hurt to try to reach out to a possible mentor. Most people will be understanding. If someone is not, he or she is probably not a good mentor.

A Woman’s Power Fuels an Electrical Company

Posted on 1 May 2010 by guest

Masooma Habibi is one of many entrepreneurs in Washington this week for the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. Habibi is a co-founder of Check Up Co., an electrical engineering consulting business in Afghanistan. She shares managing the business with two other executives.

Kenneth P. Morse is founding managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. He also teaches at ESADE business school in Spain and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Masooma Habibi

Masooma Habibi:
My family lived in a refugee camp in Iran when I was born. My father earned only little, so my mother, I and all my brothers and sisters wove carpets to survive. Our hands cracked and bled from the work.

When we returned to Afghanistan in 2008, I had hoped to study at university, but had to postpone my plans to help support my family. Yet, as a woman, I couldn’t get a job in the traditional community of Herat, where we settled. It wasn’t because of Islam – I am a Muslim – but because men look down upon women.

When all doors shut for me, Allah helped me.

From Herat, I went to Kabul and learned from people there of an international business-plan competition. The experience gave me self-confidence that many Afghan women, who are frequently ridiculed, lack.

I knew that no electrical power was a major issue in the country, so with my two brothers I started a firm providing consulting services in electrical engineering. It is called Check Up Company. Check Up provides consulting services to large customers, including international companies, and employs 22 people. We haven’t broken even yet, but eventually we want to be the Number 1 power company in Afghanistan and create more jobs.

At the beginning, we didn’t have money and were hampered by Afghani businessmen who didn’t want to work with me. But I have a strong will to achieve something better for myself, my community and my country. Today I am 23 and co-run Check Up with three male executives. I study international trade at the Dunya Institute of Higher Education. I run a nonprofit called My Hope, which aims to create jobs for 1,000 women in the provinces and help their children in the process.

My dream is to see fewer children with hands bleeding from weaving.

Whether Pulling Rickshaws or Flying Airplanes, Employees Matter

Posted on 28 April 2010 by guest

Irfan Alam is one of many entrepreneurs in Washington for the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, held April 26-27. Alam founded the SammaaN Foundation to modernize the rickshaw-pulling sector in Bihar. He manages 100,000 rickshaw operators and has implemented innovations such as advertising, first aid,and offering passengers newspapers and water.

Joe Harris is senior labor counsel for Southwest Airlines in Dallas, Texas. In 2009, Southwest was ranked 7th in FORTUNE magazine’s ranking of the 50 Most Admired Companies in the World and 1st in a ranking of the 50 best U.S. places to work by Glassdoor.com, a website that gathers its information from employees.

Irfan Alam

Irfan Alam:
SammaaN Foundation gives a new face to the unorganized workers who form nearly 93 percent of the workforce in India. One part of the group is made up of the 10 million cycle rickshaws and push cart operators. They are mostly laborers from Bihar, UP and West Bengal who migrate to bigger cities such as Delhi, Patna, Lucknow during the off-peak agricultural season. Typically, rickshaw pullers fall between 14 years old and 60 years old. While I consider them exploited, many make a lucrative living, despite a lack of skills.

I see exploitation because a puller has to pay a significant sum to hire a rickshaw from a contractor and then looks after maintenance himself. If the rickshaw gets stolen, he has to pay for it or work as a bonded laborer until the value is recovered. After a hard day’s work, operators have no place to rest; many spend their nights in the open, where they are easy victims of criminals. Being uneducated, they often become alcohol or drug addicts, making it impossible for them to break the poverty cycle.

At SammaaN, we give them dignity by encouraging rickshaw pulling as a trade/ job and not as desperate substitute work. We register them so they receive all the benefits mandated by law. They receive cycle rickshaws, uniforms and identity cards. We created lighter models of cycle rickshaws that are much easier and have operator-friendly features. Moreover, there is insurance coverage for the pullers as well as those traveling on these rickshaws.

We have incorporated the SammaaN Sabha (gathering) to increase awareness among our operators about social issues as well as to create belongingness. Held every Sunday at our rickshaw yards, it allows discussion about issues such as alcoholism or drug abuse.

We introduced microloans and are starting initiatives for family members — education programs for children and training for wives. We are also planning low cost homes for our operators.

SammaaN earns its revenue mainly through advertisements placed on the rickshaws.

Joe Harris

Joe Harris:
In the airline business, and I would assume in the rickshaw business, frontline employees are out there on their own every day, taking care of customers and making a myriad of decisions that affect the operation of the business and the customer experience.

It is refreshing to learn of an enterprise that seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of the people whose labor is essential to the success of its business. Indeed, some of the activities undertaken by SammaaN are those typically reserved to philanthropic, religious or civic organizations.

But the business of a business is to make a profit, right? Is it possible then for a business to be profitable and also be so committed to the well-being of its employees?

In a customer-service business, it is not only possible, it is advantageous. There is a direct correlation between the return rate of customers and the type of service provided by a customer-service employee. The theory is simple. If employees are happy and motivated, they will treat customers well. If customers are treated well, they will return. If customers are treated badly, they will be inclined to take their business elsewhere. This is true whether they are flying in an airplane across the USA or being pedaled through 5 blocks of Delhi.

Employees should take pride in their jobs. They should be “engaged.”

Frontline employees who feel good about themselves and their jobs feel empowered to make right decisions and act in ways beneficial to customers and to the success of the business. By promoting the dignity of the vocation and by seeking to improve the economic and social well-being of these individuals, SammaaN is not only performing a laudable public service, it is also building a foundation for a profitable business.

Talking Turkey, by Phone

Posted on 24 April 2010 by guest

Fatih Isbecer is one of many entrepreneurs coming to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship from countries with sizeable Muslim populations, April 26-27. Isbecer is founder and chief executive of Pozitron, a wireless communications company, based in Turkey.

Elmira Bayrasli is director of partnerships, policy and outreach at Endeavor Global, a nonprofit that identifies and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets.

Fatih Isbecer

Fatih Isbecer:
When I was at a high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, as an exchange student from Istanbul, I was filled with an entrepreneurial spirit and loaded with different tech ideas. The year was 1993, and the U.S.A. was experiencing a technology revolution. I felt that this change would eventually affect Turkey. A few years later, back in Turkey, with some classmates from Istanbul Technical University, I started a small business that focused on Web projects. It was a kind of techies’ playground from which I “graduated” to a more serious – but not less fun – business.

In 2000, I started Pozitron, an R&D-based firm that develops enterprise, networking and security software applications for other companies. It took me a while to bring together the executive team — experienced senior managers are in short supply in Turkey. Once I did have executives in place, I was able to focus on the mobile telecom industry and do what I do best, which is come up with innovative solutions. One of Pozitron’s first hits was a mobile-phone application for the country’s only official sports betting game – Iddaa. Since developing that, we’ve broken into international markets with mobile-phone banking applications developed for Turkey’s largest private bank – Türkiye İş Bankası. The applications allow users to transfer money, trade stocks, pay bills and check balances from anywhere in the world.

In 2007, I was selected a high-impact entrepreneur by Endeavor, a non-profit that identifies and supports influential entrepreneurs. A year later, Pozitron won the Global Business Plan Contest organized by the Harvard Business School for a plan that focused on an integrated, mobile-banking product. It was launching this application in the same month a large U.S.-based multi-national bank released its own version that gave me a huge satisfaction.

As more people are starting businesses or doing trade, mobile telephone communication has even a more significant role to play in helping them overcome obstacles and grow their enterprises. Brand new applications and services are emerging, including Pozitron’s mobile airline ticketing and check in. My ambition is to participate in shaping the future of this industry and, together with my Turkish friends and rivals, dispel the myth that the high-tech sector in Turkey doesn’t exist.

Elmira Bayrasli

Elmira Bayrasli:
As the daughter of Turkish immigrants, I spent much of my childhood visiting Turkey. It was a place I didn’t want to go. There were many reasons for that, including rolling blackouts and no television. The most important was no telephones.

The telephone was important to me. That’s how I kept in touch with my mother and my father, who wasn’t able to stay with me for the duration of our summer-long trips. “I’ve got to go back to work,” he’d tell my teary five-year old self. “But I’ll call you, okay?”

Except he couldn’t call us. My grandmother, like most Turks, didn’t have a phone – not because she couldn’t afford one, but because Turkey’s infrastructure didn’t allow for it. Phone calls could only be made at the post office. Even then there was no guarantee of securing a working line. Thankfully that is no longer Turkey’s situation.

Today, Turks are creating technologies that have attracted world attention. Pozitron is one of those companies. And Fatih Isbecer is one of those entrepreneurs helping redefine entrepreneurship in Turkey.

With a highly educated work force and globally oriented citizenship, Turkey is home to promising young talent, a strategic geography and tremendous resources. Fatih Isbecer recognized it and started his own high-tech company. It worked not only to create jobs, but to inspire other Turks to see themselves as innovators. Turkey used to turn to the West for the latest technologies. Today Turkey is at the cutting edge, pioneering new solutions not only for Turks, but for the world as well.

Seeing Africa through African Eyes

Posted on 16 April 2010 by guest

Salim Amin is one of many entrepreneurs coming to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship from countries with sizeable Muslim populations, April 26-27. He heads a media conglomerate in Kenya that includes a video and photo news agency, publishing house, TV news channel and journalism school.

American journalist Roger Mudd has had a distinguished career in television news. In the early 1960s, he joined CBS News as a congressional correspondent and became well known while covering the debate over the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He later anchored evening news for CBS and NBC and hosted Meet the Press.

Salim Amin with father's portrait

Salim Amin:
I inherited my love for Africa from my father, photo-journalist Mohamed “Mo” Amin.

He gave up his youth, his family, his left arm and eventually his life for the continent he loved and for his conviction that his photos could depict it objectively. [Mo Amin lost his arm to a grenade while covering strife in Ethiopia. He worked as a photo-reporter until 1996, when he died on board a hijacked Ethiopian airliner that crashed.]

When Mo started his career in the 1960s, the term “African journalist” was derogatory. He turned it into something symbolizing pride and achievement. My father believed Africa could be covered best by African journalists, who understand African history and culture. Under his tutelage, I worked as a frontline photographer during conflicts in Somalia, Rwanda and Congo.

My father’s images of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia brought international attention to the crisis and helped save the lives of millions.

His career inspired me to do what I do now.

After my father’s death, I took over his business, Nairobi-based Camerapix, Africa’s first online agency for news video and photography.

In 1998, media pros David Johnson and Christel de Wit and a Nairobi-based college helped me launch the Mohamed Amin Foundation to develop local journalistic talent to tell African stories to an international audience. In 2008, I started Africa 24 Media, Africa’s first online delivery site for materials from journalists, broadcasters and NGO’s from around the continent — another step in making my father’s dream a reality.

As equipment gets cheaper, smaller and more efficient, Africans will become better informed and bridge the communications gap between themselves and the outside world. I want to see an Africa that has its own voice. I want to see an Africa that will not be viewed as the poor relative looking for a hand-out, but as a pioneer in a new world, leading and not following.

The media can go a long way in realizing this vision. But we must unite as a continent and wisely use support from our friends around the world.

See also a Huffington Post interview with Salim Amin.

Roger Mudd

Roger Mudd:
I agree with Salim Amin’s father that journalists should have an understanding and feeling for the history and the culture of the country they are covering. But I’m not so sure that African journalists can “best” cover Africa if what is meant by “best” is coverage that promotes Africa as a “pioneer in a new world, leading and not following,” to quote Salim Amin.

My view is that the best coverage is an even-handed coverage, reporting the successes as well as the failures. My view is that journalists have no business marching in the parade; that they should be standing on the curb watching the parade go by and reporting on what they see.

In 1964, working for CBS News, I was assigned to cover the Senate’s civil rights filibuster on television. Most conservatives, which meant most of the southern senators, regarded CBS News as part of a very powerful, very liberal network with little sympathy or understanding of the South and its culture. In the beginning, I hit a stonewall with the southerners. Even though I had southern roots, had been educated in the South and loved southern politics, they were suspicious of me as just another liberal reporter out to denigrate them.

It was not until the senators realized that when I interviewed Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, the floor manager of the bill, I also interviewed Richard Russell of Georgia, the southern field general and that for every TV piece with Jacob Javits of New York there was a piece with Sam Ervin of North Carolina.

Soon enough, press secretaries for the southerners began calling me with tips, off-the-record comments and not-too-subtle suggestions that I interview their boss.

In the end, it was not so much my knowledge of the South that gained the trust and respect of the filibusterers as it was steady and even-handed reporting.

Self-Help Startups

Posted on 12 April 2010 by guest

Omowale Ogunrinde is one of many delegates coming to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship April 26-27, from countries with sizeable Muslim populations. She is director of the Foundation for Skills Development, a seven-year old vocational and technical training center that each year serves 5,000 unemployed adults, youth, and physically challenged people.

Candida G. Brush is a professor and chairperson of the entrepreneurship division at Babson College. She specializes in women’s entrepreneurship.

Omowale Ogunrinde

Omowale Ogunrinde:
What my country, Nigeria, needs is to create its own Silicon Valley, encouraging startups and small businesses to develop the nation’s economy. My country has been dependent on others for too much. Every one of its new leaders talks about development of industries and job creation, but nothing really happens. Rather, we have rapid population growth, unemployment, corruption, crime and collapse of industries. Small businesses are being taken over by Asian migrants, and food stability is no longer guaranteed in a nation blessed with fertile land, good weather and natural resources.

My own solution lies in the foundation I lead, the Foundation for Skills Development, which offers training in areas such as catering, fashion design, woodwork, electronics, computer appreciation and electrical repairs. We have realized that practical, up-to-date skills classes must be taught alongside entrepreneurial skills.

Our students are scattered all over Nigeria and run small to medium-sized businesses of their own. Many trainees, formerly unemployed women, have suddenly become the bread winners of their families. One alumna started Fresh Dew Foods in Lagos, with a staff strength of more than 35; another opened two fashion designing shops in elite areas of Port Harcourt. Those who do not have the zeal to start their own businesses have picked up good jobs, and their financial status has improved.

Our Smart Kids project, which is gradually transforming the public school system in Lagos state, aids the transfer of surplus and used educational materials from homes into the hands of pupils in public schools. We are in the process of putting kiosks in schools to serve as libraries.

All over Nigeria, poverty stares us all in the face. Until we can be sure that everyone is able to have at least a meal a day, then no one is free, no one.

(Also see Ambassador R.R Sanders’s, US Mission to Nigeria’s blog on the foundation.)

Candida G. Brush

Candida G. Brush:
What a wonderful service your organization provides! I am struck by the variety of services you provide and the range of individuals you train. Despite your frustrations with the uncertainty of the environment where you work, it is clear that your graduates are improving their lives and becoming contributing members of your society, one by one. Each individual that passes through your school is part of the economic development and improvement of your country. You are creating change each day, with each individual. But I sense that you see such vast problems that the improvement seems too slow and small, even though you are serving 5,000 people a year.

If you think about how your organization might make a bigger difference, scaling your operations would be a good thing to consider. In other words, how can you expand the number of people you touch and help them to have a bigger impact? Who can help? I like the example of the Smart Kids Project – this is a great way to “scale” education and knowledge using a distributed model (kiosks). Is there a way to embed entrepreneurial training in the educational materials of the Smart Kids project? Exposing young students to the entrepreneurial ideas at a younger age might create interest and motivation to try to solve some of the societal problems through starting businesses. I’m sure you have many interested stakeholders who could offer support (local companies, alums of your program, community service organizations).

Getting Ahead in Pakistan…or Anywhere

Posted on 29 March 2010 by guest

Ibrahim Qureshi is one of many entrepreneurs coming to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship April 26-27, 2010, from countries with sizeable Muslim populations. He is founder and chief executive of Raffles Ltd., the first locally assembled brand computer in Pakistan.

Jonathan Ortmans is president of the Public Forum Institute, a non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering dialogue on entrepreneurship and other issues.

Ibrahim Qureshi

Ibrahim Qureshi:
My family wanted me to join my father’s construction business. But I believed that getting a good education is important in today’s challenging business world. So after graduating from a Pakistani university, I went to Idaho State University to get a bachelor’s degree and to University of California, Los Angeles, for a master’s in business administration. The education I got in the U.S. turned me from coal to diamond. For example, I learned that many young Americans prefer to go on their own rather than rely on their parents’ position or connections as often happens in my country. So when I returned to Pakistan, I started my own company.

Today I am a successful businessman and my company, Raffles, is a leader in information technology in Pakistan. But I have faced many challenges. Initially, no major customers wanted to do business with my firm because it was unknown, and I insisted on dealing only in licensed software. But I kept pushing myself and working hard, patiently trying to convince potential customers that we offer a great value. Eventually, I succeeded.

What I have learned is that, if you have the right intentions, work toward your goal day and night, and don’t cut corners, there is no reason why you cannot reach it.

I believe that members of younger generations should think as entrepreneurs, no matter what they plan to do in life. You can start up your own small company, but whatever you do never lose confidence in yourself and your skills and try to persevere when you encounter problems. Never stop striving to excel.

If before you fall asleep you can remember one or two things you did that have made a difference, you’re on the right track.

Jonathan Ortmans:
Qureshi’s story points to an important issue in entrepreneurship: education. His education mattered in shaping his entrepreneurial path by opening up new horizons. Imagine how many more Qureshis there would be if educational programs actively introduced students to the possibilities of business creation. Unfortunately, the entrepreneurial talent of many young people around the world lays dormant.

I congratulate Qureshi’s entrepreneurial spirit and determination, and invite readers to discuss this topic and possible solutions on the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, where education was recently covered.

Will Cooking with Solar Ovens Stop Deforestation in Uganda?

Posted on 1 January 2010 by guest

[guest name="Ronald Mutebi, Paul Munsen, Jeff Klein and Patrick Doyle" biography="Entrepreneur Ronald Mutebi is from Uganda and lives in Chicago. He has a bachelor’s degree in socio psychology from Makerere University in Uganda and is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science in the United States.

Partner/supplier Paul Munsen is president of Sun Ovens International Inc., based in Elburn, Illinois.

Expert Jeff Klein is director of the Wharton Leadership Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and instructs the school’s Social Enterprise Fellows.

Expert Patrick Doyle is manager of energy and climate change division for Development Alternatives Inc.
"]

America.gov asked finalists from among the more than 700 African immigrants who submitted business plans to the “African Diaspora Marketplace” to blog about their ideas. Sponsored by USAID and Western Union Company, the African Diaspora Marketplace is a contest that will award seed money to approximately 15 winners to help them bring their ideas to life in their home countries.

RONALD MUTEBI, entrepreneur:

Ronald Mutebi demos an oven.

Uganda sits on the equator in eastern Africa, more than 1100 meters above sea level. My country was once covered by lush forests and rich vegetation. However, wars and lack of good governance have resulted in deforestation. This problem has also been driven by poverty, especially in the rural areas, where trees have been cut down and sold for cooking fuel and charcoal production.

Deforestation, in turn, has caused radical change in weather patterns, especially rainfall. We see regular food shortages and famines, extended drought and flooding.

In many treeless villages, people have started to cook with grass for fuel. In other places, there is no fuel at all, so people must eat their foods raw. In still other places, people must choose either food or fuel; they live in a situation in which they can afford only one cooked meal a day. The biggest casualty in all this has been the children, who have become malnourished or undernourished.

In 2002, my business partner, Denis Wandera, and I came across an oven that uses the sun’s heat to cook. It is made by Sun Ovens International, based in Elburn, Illinois. We plan to manufacture and sell these ovens in Uganda.

Since the start, we have encountered and overcome many obstacles, ranging from high Ugandan taxes to a lack of knowledge by customers of how to use the ovens. After extensive training and demonstrations, the Ugandan government now sees the value of this oven and supports our project. (The ovens can not only bake but can also be used to boil water, which will result in better health because many water-borne diseases will be eliminated.)

My partner and I have acquired the license to manufacture the sun ovens in Uganda. We will make them readily available to everyone at an affordable price. The manufacturing process is labor intensive, so many jobs will be created.

PAUL MUNSEN, supplier/partner:

Solar ovens are desperately needed in deforested countries like Uganda. The business concept that Ronald has developed – making and marketing the ovens locally – will make the price affordable and create jobs. His purchase plan allows people to pay for the ovens in small weekly installments, using money they will save by not having to buy charcoal. It is a win-win solution for everyone concerned.

The ovens are sold at a profit. Initially, we here at Sun Ovens International are going to ship oven parts to Uganda for assembly there. Later, Ronald will develop the manufacturing capacity to make most of the oven parts in Uganda. At that point, Sun Ovens will be financially rewarded stilll, because the company will receive royalties on a special gasket that allows our ovens to get considerably hotter than other sun-fueled ovens. Each Sun Oven can cook for a family of eight people. We believe that 75 to 80 percent of Ugandan households could significantly benefit from these ovens, so the market is potentially huge. Because the country has a great deal of sunshine, our ovens will be very useful there.

Ronald has shown entrepreneurial ingenuity in making this project possible. Originally, the high government taxes on the ovens doomed the project. In most places in the world, that is still our biggest issue.

Ronald was able to convince the Ugandan government to grant a total exemption of both the import taxes and the value added taxes for the ovens. That has changed the economic viability of the project dramatically. Ronald went to the home of the then Ugandan minister of finance and worked with the minister’s maid to cook with a Sun Oven. The minister’s wife got involved with the cooking and was so impressed that she sent her driver out three times that day to put additional food in the oven. She lobbied her husband, and he arranged for the tax exemption. Ronald showed exceptional creativity in working with the minister’s maid and wife to get that accomplished.

JEFF KLEIN, business expert:

This business plan demonstrates social innovation and wealth creation at a number of key junctures. In developing economies, the consumer’s purchasing power is severely constrained – especially for larger, one-time payments. By developing a payment structure that allows buyers to channel their savings on charcoal into the purchase of a Sun Oven, Ronald enables a large segment of the population to become buyers. This marketing and pricing structure is a true “bottom-of-the-pyramid” strategy.

Local manufacturing is another impressive feature of the plan. Not only will the region benefit from the additional wealth generated through the venture (and retained in Uganda), but it will also benefit from the capacity built within the workforce to adapt the Sun Oven to local conditions and uses.

Nutrition and safe drinking water are two of the major social challenges facing the world today. By adapting an existing product for use in a new market, Ronald applies new, market-driven solutions to address these challenges. The for-profit model that he has developed creates incentives for multiple stakeholders and supports long-term sustainability.

Ultimately, the success of this project – indeed, most projects – will depend upon the network of collaborators and supporters who stand behind the launch. By generating government support at an early stage, Ronald has both eliminated an obstacle (high taxes) and enlisted an ally. The alliance with Sun Oven imports technical knowledge and business process support. It is my hope that Ronald can continue to grow this network of collaborators to include additional parties from the private, public and NGO sectors.

PATRICK DOYLE, business expert:

Solar oven.

This appears to be an excellent technology-transfer project and hopefully the exemption of taxes and tariffs for this particular oven will be applied to other ovens and renewable/efficiency products in the future.

It would be good to have some more information on the Sun Oven technology. It appears Sun Ovens are easier to manufacture locally than parabolic solar cooker technologies, for example. Local manufacturing will help avoid or reduce tariffs if the policy changes in the future. I do have some questions about the project. Has the technology been proven in other similar environments? How many units will be operating? Are there any independent reviews comparing the technology to others? Some factors to consider, in addition to cost, would be its hardiness and durability in rough conditions and ease of cleaning. How long does the stove take to boil water? The stoves can’t be used on cloudy, rainy, windy days, so being able to set it up quickly during brief periods of sunshine would be useful.

The cost and lifespan of this gasket that must be supplied by the manufacturer over the long term is critical, as I’m sure you realized.

Unless the manufacturer –- Sun Ovens International Inc. — is financing the ovens for you, it appears you will need a loan. The cost of this finance is key, as it makes the systems more costly for you and your customers. Have you worked out this issue in your business plan?

You may want to consider leveraging the carbon markets to help finance the stoves by registering your project with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as a “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM) project or with the Voluntary Carbon Standard group. A CDM project in Indonesia using parabolic solar ovens has resulted in the reduction of more than 1000 tons of CO2e emissions. Each stove in the early stage produced about .5 tons of reduction per year. The reductions depend on how often the stoves are used and the fuel type that the solar oven is replacing.

Donor funding may be able to help get the project off the ground as well. Good luck!

America.gov Blogs

…to Blogs at America.gov, where you can join in conversation with topic experts and writers in several important fields.

Tag Archives: youth2011