Category: Headline

Goodget Ghana is in Business

In the past month, the first goodgets have been sold to local entrepreneurs in Ghana. This means we are in business selling a range of high quality solar lamps, adjustable eyeglasses, solar mobile phone chargers and water purification devices.

Besides targeting Shell shops and other retail points in and around Accra – the capital city of Ghana – we have set up a local Goodget demonstration team to demonstrate the products to women entrepreneurs. Interested entrepreneurs can get a loan to buy stock, and they are trained to sell the products themselves.

Informing people about the benefits of solar energy is a very important part of our work. Solar lamps are safer than kerosine lamps that can cause burns and fires. Also, solar lamps are cheaper, because there is no need to buy kerosine or prepaid energy. Having a solar lamp in the house means that people are not dependent any more on the policies of the Ghanaian government which has recently rationed power supply: people connected to the grid will only get 12 hours of electricity per day. This is a major setback for many people in the urban areas, but at the same time an opportunity to switch to renewable and cheaper energy sources.

In the next month, we hope to sell out the stock we have in Ghana, and place a new order with our suppliers. In the mean time, we will continue the search for a suitable office and storage space in Accra, so we can further streamline our operations. Also, we will continue to look for new leads and possibilities to make our products available to the people who can best use them: the underserved people in the urban and rural areas of Ghana.

Goodget – Improving Daily Life

Since the 1960s many efficient, innovative, low-cost and sustainable products have been invented that can help to solve problems of the poor like power cuts (solar energy), pollution (recycling, zero-waste production, alternatives for fossil fuels), insufficient shelter and sanitation (development of cheap and sustainable housing), drought (simple water pumps, and irrigation systems), faulty management of natural recources (cheaper and more sustainable alternatives for the use of wood, water; innovative re-use of materials) etc.
Research shows that often distribution of these products is limited. 90% of the worlds population is poor and struggles on a daily basis with the problems mentioned above. This means they could benefit greatly from using these products, but most designers and producers do not succeed in reaching this potentially huge market for their products.

There is no wholesaler for this type of products yet, and individual designers and producers do not focus on marketing and distribution of their products via the market, but on distribution via traditional development agencies (often resulting in donation, not trade). Also, they are often too small to start a broad marketing campaign on their own. And, ofcourse, the poor are hard to reach. Increasing internet access and mobile services in developing countries offer opportunities to change all this in the near future.

In line with this development, we want to start an online distribution platform which ultimately seeks to connect producers and users of low-cost, sustainable, efficient and innovative products (not gadgets, but goodgets). By bundling marketing efforts for designers/producers on the one side, and bundling demand and other measures to increase buying power of the poor on the other side, Goodget wants to stimulate effective distribution of goodgets. More goodgets sold will mean that producers can lower their prices.

Our vision is that goodgets are spread to those who need and can use them most at the lowest negotiable price. The initiative’s goal is not simply to achieve growth and prosperity, but rather to achieve sustainable economic growth and increase in prosperity. The challenge is to achieve growth without depleting the natural resources and damaging of the environment, and therefore create a pleasant and stable environment between peoples.

 

Besides wholesale to selected local partners, Goodget wants to establish a chain of resellers in developing countries, who are assisted in setting up a profitable business in goodgets by offering them microcredits and workshops, and supplying their customers (the poor) with savings programs and buying subsidies.

Goodget is not about inventing innovative products, it is about helping inventors and producers to scale up, and give people everywhere access to these products that can improve their wellbeing and the environment.

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