Increase quality of life of Kenyan farmers with solar power

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from €4,150 (71%)

We are Lucia, Harm & Madelon. All three of us are bachelor students; jointly we represent three different Dutch universities and three different fields of study; development studies; mechanical engineering and public policy. In November we are going to Kenya for three months to do a project for the social enterprise Agsol as part of the minor Entrepreneurship & Development at TU Delft, and we ask for your help to maximize our impact.

The goal of Agsol is to combine solar power and productive agricultural machinery to improve the life quality of farmers and families in remote areas. This mission is more relevant today than ever; the number of people suffering from malnutrition has risen in the last few years, and 9% of the world population is living with severe food insecurity (FAO). As a result of the increasing pressure of the climate crisis, increasing gas prices and COVID-19 on agricultural practices and food security, your contribution is of undeniable significance. 

In addition, the donor with the highest donation will receive a painting painted by our own Lucia in the theme of our destination. 

Help us improve the quality of life of small African farmers and donate! 

Thank you so much,

Madelon, Lucia and Harm 

For more information about Agsol please take a look at their official website; https://agsol.com/

For any other questions you can contact us through the following email address;

M.S.S.vanderHelm@student.tudelft.nl

 

 

What is Agsol doing?

Agsol is a start-up company located in Nairobi, Kenya, which designs and produces solar powered milling machines. These milling machines can a.o. be used for the processing of staple foods such as corn, sorghum and millet. Their newest Micromill is the World’s most affordable and  energy efficient milling device in the world. Worldwide almost a billion people have no access to electricity of whom most depend on agriculture for their livelihood. This means their best chance to generate income is through improved agricultural practices; this is especially the case for rural Kenya.

Why is this important?

  • Due to the solar system accompanied with these milling machines people who live off-grid get access to energy. This can deliver social and livelihood benefits on many levels.
  • Agsol machines can boost village economies, since it generates income through payment for milling services and leads to higher productivity. In this way the machine helps to alleviate poverty.
  • In rural areas people depend on the food they grow themselves for their livelihoods and they needs to process it before they can eat it. Agsol machines efficiently process staple foods into edible and higher-value products. The machine can process food 50 times faster than a human can. It therefore contributes to food security.
  • Women and girls are often tasked with household food processing, either manually or by transporting produce to and from the nearest mills. Using a milling machine saves them a lot of time and leads to the empowerment of women and girls to conduct other economic and social activities.

 

Agsol is a start-up company that continuously strives to learn more about the needs of their customers. For Agsol’s continuation it is crucial more information is revealed regarding customer satisfaction, ways to better serve the users of their product and potential markets. In order to gain knowledge, we’ll need to visit customers and communities in need of milling devices. We will interview them to better identify their experiences and needs regarding the milling machine. Such data is significant for the long-term impact of Agsol’s milling device and therefore your contribution can make a difference for all present and future users of Agsol’s sustainable innovation, which has the power to change lives.  

The money raised in this crowdfund will not be used for the manufacturing of the milling device. Also, our personal travel costs such as our apartment in Nairobi and our flight to Kenya we will pay ourselves. Your donation will solely be used for the fieldwork, which is a part of our market analysis product, which includes traveling to users of milling devices who often live in remote places.  

With our target amount of 4150 euros, we can do about 4 weeks of fieldwork. This amount of 4150 euros is based on the costs of around 150 euros per day to go in the field (estimated by Agsol). The costs consist of the rental of a car, accomodation, and in some cases a translator. For the remaining 2 months of our project, we will work from Agsol's office in Nairobi.

What are our goals?

Below are some of our goals whilst being in Nairobi;

  • Identify key customers
  • Identify customer satisfaction and future action to increase customer satisfaction
  • Providing Agsol with advice on which new markets they can serve with their product
  • Coming up with a marketing strategy for AgsolWriting on an advisory report for Agsol on how they can improve their business