Arvind Nagarajan

Arvind piloted a new approach for improving education in resource-limited settings. He will rely on digital student assessments to increase transparency of education quality and drive improvements in school systems. He will pilot a tablet-based assessment in a low-cost center in Mumbai, and hopes to launch full time in 2014. Eric Pohlman, co-founder of One Acre Fund, is serving as a mentor.

Livelyhoods / iSmart

COOK STOVE CHALLENGE; KENYA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Efficient cook stoves. 

Learn more about the Cook Stove Challenge and how clean cook stoves reduce health and safety risks, lower fuel expenses, and help reduce poverty.  

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

LivelyHoods operates a distribution network for clean-burning cook stoves. Their branded retail network consists of customer service centers and uniformed sales representatives, reaching the most hard-to-reach households in urban slum and peri-urban communities. 

The mission is to create livelihoods opportunities for youth in urban slums so they can work their way out of poverty and actualize their potential. LivelyHoods employs youth from slums to sell life-changing products in their communities. The model includes a strong retail brand, increasing professional sales talent of youth form slums, and financing inventory through a third party partner, Kiva. 

The curated product line is sold through a retail network which consists of customer service centers and uniformed sales representatives. While the best selling products are clean-burning cook stoves, they also offer a wide range of other high-impact products, ranging from water filters to solar lamps to reusable sanitary pads. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Sell 5,156 clean burning cook stoves in 2014
• Train 500 youth and create 100 jobs in 2014 
• Sell 89,959 cook stoves in 2015 and 2016
• Train 6,250 youth and create 1250 jobs, impacting the lives of 449,795 people in 2015 and 2016 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Tania Laden - Co-Founder, Executive Director 

Juabar

CUSTOM CHALLENGE; TANZANIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Juabar, a design-build start-up, creates transportable mobile-phone charging kiosks powered by a 40-60W solar system for use in rural and urban areas that lack access to electricity. 

Learn more about the Custom Challenge and why we only fund ideas that focus on distributing proven poverty interventions.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Turning Juabar kiosks into solar light enterprises run by "Juapreneurs" can act as an extremely effective means for overcoming the traditional distribution barriers faced in Tanzania for numerous reasons: 

The market for Juabar kiosks directly correlates with that of solar lights - in areas of Tanzania that are not electrified. Juabar provides needed phone charging services and solar lights are a complementary product offering for this market. 

The kiosks provide a working example to potential consumers of the effectiveness of solar power thorugh the charging of their phones. This overcomes the hesitation that a consumer often has when met with a new product such as solar technology. In addition to handing out marketing materials, promotion will come when routine charging customers repeatedly interact with lighting products and the kiosk operators who can promote their benefits. 

A portable kiosk allows operators to bring their service and products to the consumer. With its large, unique structure, Juabar sticks out in every setting and word-of-mouth about its presence travels quickly in isolated rural areas. Phone costs can represent up to 25% of the annual income of someone with poor energy access, with up to 50% of these costs going to travel expenses in getting to a charging location. Kiosks reduce these travel costs and can directly show consumers an option for further reducing ongoing household energy costs. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Create 15 solar lighting Juapreneurs by the end of the 3 month pilot
• Serve 4,000 households with charging services during the 3 month pilot 
• Roll out 150 Juabar lighting dealers by the end of year 2 
• Reach 26,650 households by the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Olivia Nava - Co-Founder

Essmart

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; INDIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTION

Solar lamps and clean energy products. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

India's peri-urban and rural populations are not benefiting from existing life-improving technologies - such as solar lanterns, water filters, and smokeless cook stoves - because the local retail outlets they depend on are disconnected from these essential goods. Essmart is a distribution company operating in Tamil Nadu that connects local shops with a catalog of quality, affordable, essential products, providing marketing, distribution, and after-sales service. 

Ninety percent of Indian households primarily shop in an estimated 15 million small, low-margin retail shops. However, these retail shops do not sell esesntial technologies because they do not know about them, where to get them, or how to service them if they break. Essmart connects a catalog of high-quality goods with proven demand to local shops, where trusted buying relationships exist. 

Essmart's model has three parts. 1) Aggregate a catalog of high-quality existing products and build relationships with suppliers. Sales Executives then demonstrate our catalog to local shops and end users through marketing campaigns. 2) Essmart's local Sales Executives build distribution networks to villages by creating an Essmart-branded section in local shops, leaving our catalog in shops, and fulfilling orders. 3) Should any product break, Essmart provides training and maintenance services and facilitates manufacturers' warranties. This ensures that users continue to benefit from the products and shops need not take on the burden of returns.  

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Work from 10 aggregate distribution centers by the end of year 1 
• Sell 16,200 products by the end of year 1 
• Support 5,000 local Sales Executives by the end of year 2 
• Work from 24 aggregate distribution centers by the end of year 3 
• Sell 387,420 products by the end of year 3 

FOUNDING TEAM

Jackie Stenson, Chief Executive Officer 

Diana Jue, Chief Operations Officer 

Prashanth V'Ramana - Director 

Poonacha Kalengada - Director 

Watch Me Go

SCHOLARSHIP CHALLENGE; KENYA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Scholarships to help send girls to school. 

Learn more about our current distribution challenges and why we focus on interventions that are proven to impact lives.  

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Watch Me Go is a crowd-sourced funding platform to provide education scholarships for girls in Kenya. Watch Me Go will allow donors to build a virtual classroom of smart girls in need of secondary school scholarships, track progress online and send more girls to school.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Raise funds to send 100 girls to attend school during the pilot phase

FOUNDING TEAM

Katie Wood - Founder and Director