Sirona Cares

Sirona's 1st Sustainable Business Plan Contest in Haiti

Sirona has worked for years on developing sustainable businesses in Haiti based upon alternative energy.  The goal has always been to move from charity to self-sustaining programs that are Haitian-run enterprises.  We have successfully worked in both biofuel and solar, and now we are turning our experience into opportunity for small scale entrepreneurs in Leogane, Haiti.

Lack of access to energy is the key barrier for small businesses in Haiti.  Last year Wagan Tech donated to Sirona Cares Foundation solar cubes for Haiti.  These cubes are a portable, solar-based power supply that can run any type of appliance, the time they run depends of course upon power consumption.  Sirona is using the solar cube as a prize for first place in Sustainable Business Plan competitions, the first is beginning now in Leogane, Haiti.  Last week we delivered the cube, and the buzz at the NEGES Foundation was that of excitement.

Haitians are, by nature, hard working entrepreneurs.  Given the scantest of resources Haitian people are able to bring economic value to their lives, and this type of competition is intended to be the hand up that a would-be business owner needs to thrive.  The excitement over having power that is not reliant upon diesel or government electricity spurred many ideas spontaneously: the ability to put air into tires on the road (this man loses at least 10 potential customers every time he runs out of fuel and leaves to buy more); the ability to run a small theater in a home; the ability to keep drinks cool.  The business ideas were far beyond simply charging phones, and they kept coming the entire time we were there.

The contest will open soon and the top twenty plans will be accepted for review.  Each plan must outline the business plan as well as the intention to set aside funds for equipment repair and battery replacement over time.  We will post the top business ideas here as well as track the winner as he/she starts a new venture with sustainable energy thanks to the NEGES Foundation, Sirona and Wagan Tech.

 

Catching Up: Sirona's Progress

St. Marc: Sirona Customer Sighting

Thanksgiving has just passed here in America, and with gratitude on my mind I want to thank all of the supporters of Sirona's work.  It has been an amazing adventure and we are only succeeding due to the support of our donors, the IEEE, our volunteers, and our team in Haiti.  It takes a lot of people who believe in a vision to make it a reality, and Sirona Cares thanks all who have shared our vision and provided the support they could to bring light and sustainable development to communites throughout Haiti.

 

The USAID program to light 747 houses in the St. Marc communes of Haiti has rested near completion for weeks now.  We deployed nine SunBlazer units in August, each with 40 home kits for customers.  The units are operating well, and the communities have been excited to have access to affordable electricity.  The catch is that 43 customer home kits per unit have been stuck in customs.  Anyone who has shipped to Haiti has probably experienced a hiccup at the port, and unfortunately it was our turn to go through the extended process of claiming goods.  We should be distributing the additional kits to bring all units up to 83 homes served by each SunBlazer in the next two weeks.  With the bad there is always good, and the upside is that the delay allowed the new franchise Operators time to gain experience and run their businesses with fewer homes served.  All are ready now to add the new homes, and increase the profitability of their businesses.

STAR TIDES, Pentagon Courtyard

Sirona was happy to attend the STAR TIDES demonstrations this year in Washington D.C.  STAR TIDES is a DOD funded program that highlights technologies that can be used to stabilize stressed (post-war, post-disaster) communities.  The demonstrations proved to be an excellent opportunity for networking amongst shelter/water/energy/communications groups, and Sirona's Director ran a workshop for participants focused on "High Tech Solutions in Low Tech Environments".  The talk was geared at how we have successfully deployed our equipment into rural Haiti without suffering any loss due to theft or tampering.  For followers of the blog you already know, the answer rests upon the strength of community in rural Haiti.  With 83 homes reliant on a station the odds of tampering with the SunBlazer unit has dropped to zero.  Giving the community control of the unit has proven a successful method of mitigating those risks.

 

A new company, Sirona Haiti, S.A. was formed to collect revenue from stations and provide for the service technician to visit and repairs to be made as necessary.  We have had technical issues with two stations during the past year and support from the IEEE volunteers has been critical. Our biggest challenge has been that of achieving true sustainability.  We work in a tough environment, and we provide a new product.  Reception of our equipment is very positive, but shifting an informal economy to a formal economy is challenging. 

We have experienced the growing pains one would expect: the impact of a missed payment from an Operator, technical issues, port issues, even two hurricanes, flat tires.  I am proud of our team, and happy to report that we are in successfully working through these issues as they arise.  As the Creyole saying goes: "Piti piti na rive" (little by little we arrive).  With new projects on the horizon I say with confidence, we are getting there.

The photo above was taken along the road by one of our team members and texted to me.  What you see is a customer with their kit in tow.  I'm not sure if they were going to recharge, or to use it in town that evening, all I am sure of is this: a product that we placed in the community is in use, making a difference, and that is a very exciting thing to get a candid photo of.

Clean Fuel in Haiti: 250,000 Trees Will Change Lives

If you dig back into this blog you will see that the SunBlazer solar program has received all of the attention for some time.  That is only one of our programs though, and the other does so well that I fail to blog about it,which is a shortcoming on my part.

Sirona places the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the poorest people.  We achieve many things with this mission, we provide light, improve lives, improve livelihoods, empower, and improve the environment locally and globally.  Our Jatropha Program allows small farmers who work in co-ops, or in Haiti, Kombit farmers, to receive free seedlings and in turn, Sirona purchases these seeds to process into two resources: clean fuel (Jatropha oil is a drop in replacement for diesel fuel) and an alternative charcoal.

As with any agricultural program, it takes time to reach milestones.  Sirona has just surpassed the planting of over 250,000 trees that will each bear enough seed to produce a gallon of clean fuel a year.  The residue will be used as nitrate rich fertilizer or compressed into briquettes to replace charcoal.

Haitians cook with charcoal.  It is a way of life, but the charcoal trade is destroying the fragile island.  Deforestation is arguably Haiti's largest issue.  We are working to encourage planting, rather than cutting down trees, and if we can stabilize these hillsides and replenish the soil, the indigenous trees will return in time.  This program creates the opportunities for the charcoal trade to shift to tree planting rather than cutting.

We could not have reached this milestone without the support of our donors, and we especially wish to highlight the support we have received from JDT Foundation.  Last fall they supported the planting of 50,000 seedlings and committed to 50,000 more this year.  JDT Foundation is a Haitian organization that saw Jatropha's potential and elected to support our endeavor rather than begin one of their own.  We are immensely appreciative of this support and look forward to continuing our program.  Pressing oil will begin in the coming months, seeds are being bought today to give us what we need when we are ready to press.  Organizations are now coming to us seeking contracts to purchase the oil.  As with everything we have done thus far, that decision will ultimately lie with the farmers.

I am looking at opportunities for Carbon Credit financing, and working to raise funds to continue this worthy program.  We are expecting to expand into the north this year working with a new group who has seen the program and hopes to displace the fuel they need for their hospital generator.  Many thanks to all who have supported our farmers, they have used your funding to it's fullest potential, and it will change lives for generations.  Consider this: the impact of a $100 donation to this program will allow us to plant 1,000 seedlings, each will produce a gallon of fuel per year as well as charcoal.  If the value of that is $5 per year, and the trees live for 25 years (typically between 25-45 years) your $100 donation creates $125,000 for the farmers in Haiti.  JDT's $5,000 donation will generate $6,250,000 over the life of these trees.

Anytime you can offset in import, particularly fuel, you are making a financial impact in a country.  Whenever you can reduce the amount of smoke children are exposed to you are having positive health impact in a country.  This program will not change all of Haiti, but for our farming communities it will generate badly needed revenue, empower, and improve lives.  Thank you again for your generosity and support.

Lighting the Mountain Villages of St. Marc

I am sitting on top of a mountain, literally, in Haiti.  We have made the treacherous drive up hauling a SunBlazer that will provide this community with its first access to electricity.  I am not speaking lightly when I say treacherous, as this was a steep, winding one-lane road.  At one point we met a large truck coming down too fast and we were lucky enough to both avoid colliding and avoid the truck going off the steep edge.  We arrived safely, to a magnificent view and the fresh cool air of the mountains.  This community farms coffee, corn, beans, and much more I’m sure.  It is very fertile, and absolutely stunning.

As with every deployment, while there are only a few present when we arrive, in time there is a crowd.  Boys play, men watch, and the women and girls watch as well from a short distance.  The crowd will grow constantly and continue to do so long after our departure, especially here because it is nearly dusk.  By the time we are gone, the lights will be on guiding interested villagers to the location to see the milestone that their village has reached today.

Here in rural Haiti there simply is no access to electricity.  In even the cities like St. Marc, from which we are operating as a base for this nine-unit deployment, there is little power that does not come from generators at larger businesses and hotels.  There is some grid power but for reasons unknown to us there is little evidence of energy that the local utility provides.

The Ti Soley (“Little Sun” in Haitian Kreyol) kits that we provide with lighting kits allow homes to enjoy three lights: two mounted pull-chain bulbs as well as a flashlight on the kit itself.  These have lasted our customers for five days on average before needing to be brought to the SunBlazer solar charging station.  The station and kits provide enough energy to reach the bottom rung of the Millennium Development Goals with regard to access to electricity.  This is a great milestone for our communities.  From this base level they can begin to enjoy life without kerosene fumes, and access to communication.  They can use a radio and charge their cell phones.  Energy changes lives, improves health, and gives those who have access to it opportunities that they would not have without it.

This is a business venture and we have spent a lot of time and energy training our nine new Operators.  They are entrepreneurs (as are their customers, who will be charging the phones of neighbors who were not able to access a Ti Soley kit).  Revenue generated by a franchise covers monthly maintenance visits, support for the local Operator (school/community development group/etc.) and Sirona’s operations and expansion.

 

When You're Holding the Tiger By The Tail, Don't Let Go!

Johannesburg, South Africa; Witts University

The IEEE convened a conference at the Witts University last week and Sirona was there to participate in a CSI (Community Solutions Initiative) working group that worked all week to educate and collaborate with African based NGOs on the successful work relating to the SunBlazer in Haiti.  The university was symbolically appropriate as it is focused upon social justice.  Nelson Mandella attended this university.

The technology for the Rural Electricity Program is simple.  It is designed to be a radically affordable way to bring basic electricity to homes deprived of energy where solar power is appropriate.  The business plan for the program is unique in that it is an economically viable way to bring power to the poorest people.  By charging customers roughly what the household pays for Kerosene alone we can bring enough power to a home with energy efficient lighting to not only illuminate a home, but also provide the subscriber with enough energy to charge cellular phones.  The product has been eagerly sought and is currently over-subscribed in Haiti, and now we are taking the fist steps to scaling in Africa.

Many exciting things are happening, and the days are filled with a lot of hard work.  In Haiti we are fulfilling a USAID grant that will bring light to 747 homes by the end of next month in the St. Marc communes; and we have the funding in place for an additional 1,253 by the end of the year.  We are beginning the process of in-country assembly, ironing out supply chains, and quickly moving the program into its next iteration.  Today we also received notification from UNEP that we have received another grant to undertake an end-of-grid program to enroll an additional 3,000 homes in our program and create thirty new small businesses.

In Africa the working group members came from South Sudan, Cameroon and Nigeria.  The CSI is eager to move forward and IEEE is committing to a ten year plan wherein 50 million people will receive electricity through this program.  IEEE will donate the equipment, and Sirona is a key player working to get the program scaling. 

The most memorable quote from the days we spent working in Johannesburg was the title of this blog entry: "When you are holding the tiger by the tail, don't let go!" (or else one of two things will happen: you will be mauled, or you will be left in the dust).  Wise words and a worthy challenge for us as we move forward both in Haiti and beyond.

From Haiti to Africa, and Back Again

Two weeks ago I was in Port au Prince feeling the heat of the Haitian summer, and now I am in Johannesburg feeling the cold of an African winter. On the 18th I will be back in Haiti's summer again.  

In Haiti we made final preparations for the assembly and deployment of nine new SunBlazer units to the St. Marc communes.  These are the last of the IEEE donated equipment shipped from New York to Port au Prince and the units have since cleared customs.  We met with USAID and Chemonics in St. Marc to confirm our methodology for selecting the nine Operators thereby completing the second of five milestones in this grant.  Our selection, training and deployment schedule is set and by the 20th of August 747 St. Marc homes will be lit.  Next we will use the funding from the USAID grant to build nine more units for deployment before the end of the year.  These will be the first SunBlazers built entirely in Haiti.

Everything is running smoothly.  Operator selection is occurring in St. Marc, candidates are being interviewed, and selection should be completed by the 20th of July.  On the equipment side we have secured an ideal location for final assembly of the units.  Six jobs were created by this assembly project and these workers will most likely form the backbone of the Haitian assembly workforce that we will be hiring.

I left Haiti on a very positive note and spent a week preparing for our trip to Johannesburg, South Africa.  On Friday afternoon we began the 30 hour journey to the IEEE conference, Power Africa 2012.  Sirona was invited to run workshops alongside the conference on the Rural Electricity Program with the Community Solutions Initiative group.  The IEEE provided the seed funding and technical expertise for the first units (fifteen in all) with the understanding that securing the resources to scale the program is the responsibility of Sirona.  The IEEE/Sirona partnership has been very successful and will have lit over 2000 homes in Haiti by years end.  Both organizations are very excited about opportunities to expand this work beyond Haiti.

The Power Africa conference begins today and our three day workshop begins tomorrow.  Immediately following the conference we begin our journey back to Haiti.  Paul, the COO, goes directly from Johannesburg to Haiti to complete the nine units for St. Marc, and I go back to California and then on to Haiti on the 18th.  Preparing for this conference has given me time to reflect on the amazing partners we have found in Haiti, and all of the hard work and dedication it took to get here.  I am proud to be in Africa telling stories of Haiti that show engenuity, persistence, and achievement; and I look forward to getting back to Haiti to meet the next nine Operators that our local managment will select this week.

A quick note of thanks: I want to thank Brooke Scarborough a Sirona Intern who gave up a month of her summer vacation and spent that time in Haiti helping with the energy project.  Not everyone is cut out for internship in Haiti, but it must be said that Brooke was a great addition to the team and she will be missed by many.

Progress Reports from Haiti

Good news from the field. I arrived in Haiti Wednesday and hit the ground running. As it is when you work here, either a lot happens fast or nothing seems to happen at all. Since last summer the trips have all been of the first type. Fast paced and full of exciting motion as we launched and now seek to grow the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Program and the Jatropha Program.

Our Jatropha program is scaling quickly. We will plant 100,000 new trees this year moving quickly once the rains start next month. Over 1,000 farmers are signed up to collect seedlings from our nurseries and care for them in their small farms. From its start, Sirona has worked to build sustainable communities. To that end we work with alternative energy and we support those who care for and educate children in our communities. During our first year we raised the money to feed the children at three orphanages 1/4 of the years food. Never wishing to create total reliance we have assisted as we could when donors wish to help children.

Last year we had some farmers who wished to expand their gardens but needed money to allow them to do so. Sirona lent ten farmers $50 each, and rather than seek repayment in cash we asked that the farmers bring $50 worth of food to the local school and the committee in charge of the Jatropha Program would keep track of the fulfillment of the loans. We reduced the administrative burden on our side and we were able to ensure that hundreds of children would receive lunch at school. The first meals were served this past week and there are many, many happy people in the community. It is wonderful when everybody wins.

I spent Thursday and Friday in Grand Goave with our Country Manager, Lexidan Edme. It was a coincidence that I was in the city at the same time the Edmes were, so they brought me out for our meetings that were planned for the weekend. In Haiti you take opportunities when they are in front of you. We discussed deployment of a new IEEE product, the Light Stick, as well as our current status with USAID funding proposals. I had lengthy interviews with our field technicians and have a good understanding of what is happening at each of our six SunBlazer sites. Bottom line: its all still a success.

Sustainable Change Occurring in Haiti through Alternative Energy

This week brings the end of three years of work in Haiti. As a friend commented recently, we really have come a long way. I am thrilled and amazed by the progress we have made towards our mission to build sustainable communities by placing the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the poor. The most exciting thing to report about 2011 is that it was the year in which we empowered Haitians to change the lives of people in their communities, sustainably.

With over 100,000 jatropha trees planted (and an additional 150,000 funded for next year) we will soon see dramatic economic changes in rural Haiti. Each tree produces enough oil-rich seeds to create a gallon of oil that is a drop-in replacement for diesel fuel. This means that for the next 25-45 these 100,000 trees will bring economic improvement to rural Haitians while the trees improve soil and reverse deforestation. A critical byproduct of producing jatropha oil is a charcoal replacement briquette that is made by pressing the residue or seedcake from the pressing process. Our nurseries each produce 10,000 seedlings every three months and farmers eagerly take these seedlings to their land and plant them without displacing any food crops. Our press needs repairs and as soon as it is ready we will make our first oil. 2012 promises to be another incredible year.

We end 2011 with 240 homes that have their first electricity. Far from the grid these homes are serviced by the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Program. The IEEE worked with Sirona to design and ultimately deploy six Sunblazer units. These are 1.5kW solar charging stations run by entrepreneurial Operators. Each Operator has forty customers who pay a modest $6.70 per month for basic electricity. Customers receive an energy kit that has a rechargeable battery, lights and the ability to charge cellular phones. When the kit is exhausted (five to seven days on average) the customer brings the battery kit back to the charging station and three hours later the kit is ready to return to their home. The IEEE and the Sirona team have been thrilled to see that, due to our culturally appropriate business plan, all 240 customers have paid every month, every Operator has made his lease payment to Sirona keeping the program sustainable, and nothing has been stolen or damaged since deployment in June.

This program has had such success that the Haitian Secretary of Energy has announced that Sirona Haiti's electricity program is the model for electrification of rural villages. USAID is supporting the program by building Sirona a Haitian assembly facility. This spring the first Haitian built Sunblazers will roll out to rural communities and provide the first electricity many have ever had--at a price lower than what they are currently paying for noxious kerosene, candles and cell phone charging.

We are very excited for next year, the groundwork has been laid for amazing progress to occur in 2012. As the year ends we thank all of our partners and friends in Haiti, our supporters, all of our donors, all of the IEEE volunteers and all of the funding provided by the IEEE for the Sunblazer pilot units. We thank the Government of Haiti for including Sirona in the energy sector strategic planning process and inviting us to display our unit at the Caricom Energy Week events. Many have read the article in World Magazine, and we appreciate all of the kind words and donations that this article has generated. Thank you, one and all. 2012 promises to be a very exciting year full of progress in Haiti and beyond. Year end donations are graciously accepted by the Sirona Cares Foundation!

Jatropha Program Thriving with 100,000+ Trees Planted

It's amazing what happens to a community when you give them options for a better future.  It is exciting, and incredibly rewarding.  Since 2009 we have been working with rural Haitians and refining our Jatropha Program.  Because Haitians developed the plan there is a strong sense of ownership and pride associated with the work of planting these trees.

Jatropha is a shrub that produces non-edible fruit.  The seeds of this fruit are rich in oil, and this oil is extracted with a mechanical press.  Once pressed the oil does not need further refining to run in most diesel engines (generators, trucks, tractors, etc.).  Jatropha oil can be mixed with diesel fuel.  This will bolster the economics in rural areas, and lower carbon emissions in Haiti.  As if this isn't enough, the byproduct of the pressing process (seedcake) can be compressed into an alternative charcoal briquette.  This will also generate income in rural Haiti and protect the vulnerable island from further deforestation.

Today we have over 1,000 participating farmers in southern Haiti and over 100,000 trees have been planted.  Hillsides have been bolstered, soil improved, and no food displaced by the process because we either inter crop Jatropha at safe distances or use it as a border crop (because animals do not eat it).  Each of these trees should yield enough seed to create a gallon of oil each year.  If we assume the price of a gallon of oil to be $5.00, that means these communities will bring in $500,000 a year.  Jatropha lives 25-45 years, so in 25 years these communities will have made $12.5 million dollars.  The proposition is exciting, and encouraging.

More encouraging was the news we received from the JDT Foundation last month.  Named for Joseph Dennis Thomas, the Foundation focuses upon improving education, the environment and the economics in Haiti.  Sirona is honored to have received grants from the JDT Foundation which will pay for the planting of our next 100,000 trees in 2012.  In addition, another grant from Dupont will allow us to plant even more trees and begin the process of producing jatropha oil this spring.

It has taken a lot of hard work to get here, but it is gratifying to see the difference that Haitians are making.  The program is run as a partnership with Sirona funding nurseries to generate seedlings, and the trees are then planted voluntarily by farmers to help improve their land.  We are always looking for ways to create even more sustainability, so this past year we allowed 10 farmers to "borrow" $50 each to extend their farms.  Rather than be repaid in cash we elected to have these farmers pay back the debt in food to the local school's lunch program. 

Many thanks to the JDT Foundation, to Dupont, and to our supporters who have gotten our friends in Haiti this far. 

Chasing Away the Night One Village at a Time

Please enjoy this guest blog from Rick Davis, Tech Assist Haiti:

One does not have to spend time in Haiti to appreciate the simple miracle that is artificial light. Each of us has memories of camping trips or major utility blackouts or hurricanes that we can reach back to and recall how absolutely dark is the night on this planet of ours.

An occasional foray into the night of the wilderness does not frighten us. It does not change our lifestyle. Our children are not impacted in their futures by lack of light. It’s just a camping trip. It is just a temporary utility problem. It’s just a hurricane. Soon we will be back in our warm cocoon of light; turning on a switch to chase away the night.

IEEE and Sirona Cares are chasing away the night for the rural people of Haiti one village at a time.

I was thrilled to be able to visit one of the six sites where an IEEE/Sirona entrepreneur-managed charging station is based. What I saw has convinced me that lighting a million homes in Haiti is possible using this model.

Michelle Lacourcere has posted the facts of her recent review of the sites. The facts are as stated. The people are not only extending their days into the night they are gaining a tremendous amount of self respect. In Haiti as in just about every place in the world there is a social divide between rural and urban populations; we certainly have that here in the United States. The simple act of turning on a light switch is no longer the great chasm that rural peoples must span to consider themselves modern. In six villages in Haiti that is.

The base stations are underutilized in a major way. This is a wonderful problem that can be solved in numerous ways. The excellent design and engineering of the base charging station permits one to imagine all sorts of additional utilizations, and revenue sources to the entrepreneur, that spring from the fact the four or five battery units are charged each day. It is my belief that the additional uses of the energy being produced will be provided by the people of each village. Do they need power for a tele-learning center? Electricity for a medical clinic to serve ten or twenty villages in the vicinity? An ice machine to keep water cold for those long humid days? Human ingenuity being what it is I cannot begin to think of all of the ways this gift of affordable, renewable, non-polluting energy will prove to be for the rural population of Haiti.

I have been privileged to view the IEEE/Sirona rural electrification project from inception through to successful pilot.  Indeed it is a privilege to see this project so well designed, built, implemented and managed. So much of what I do in Haiti every day encompasses wonderful ideas that remain, forever, ideas. Kudos to all for a job well done.

Rick Davis

Tech Assist for Haiti