Thursday 29 December 2011
Guguplex in Suriname
It's been a little while but we had an amazing trip to Suriname in December travelling up the Maroni river to Grand Santi on the border with French Guiana to install solar systems in some of the communities up there. Their remoteness and the costs of transport and petrol to power generators means that solar systems offer a much more cost effective option for them to receive electricity. It looks like Suriname will be a big part of Guguplex's future work!
I've put a short video of some of our adventures up on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w12ujG7qJQo&context=C3c6e513ADOEgsToPDskKfZ3Rb1LN7ttZcQpU_Gzqf
Next Guguplex is off to Kenya in January 2012 to install a solar system for a children's home and to work with a major Christian Child Sponsorship Organisation to provide solar systems for some of their centres. God just keeps opening doors for us and we are really excited about what opportunities will come along in 2012!
With solar prices continuing to drop and systems becoming ever more affordable the technology is coming within the reach of more and more of the 1.4 billion people who live off-grid.
I've put a short video of some of our adventures up on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w12ujG7qJQo&context=C3c6e513ADOEgsToPDskKfZ3Rb1LN7ttZcQpU_Gzqf
Next Guguplex is off to Kenya in January 2012 to install a solar system for a children's home and to work with a major Christian Child Sponsorship Organisation to provide solar systems for some of their centres. God just keeps opening doors for us and we are really excited about what opportunities will come along in 2012!
With solar prices continuing to drop and systems becoming ever more affordable the technology is coming within the reach of more and more of the 1.4 billion people who live off-grid.
Saturday 5 November 2011
More Nigeria Pictures
Some more pictures from our trip.
Local Village Church
Guguplex goes to Nigeria!
We are just back from an amazing two week visit to Nigeria. In a country where more than 60-70% of people do not have electricity (100 million+) you can see the need for solar power but even we were overwhelmed by the response we got.
Local churches took a particular interest and we spoke to several thousand people in five different churches on one Sunday morning sharing the vision for solar power in rural areas. Because many of the churches are actively engaged with rural communities they saw the benefits straight away.
We have partnered with a local Nigerians to set-up Guguplex Nigeria Ltd. and ran a solar workshop for over 150 people on the possibilities and benefits of solar systems and had several approach us with a view to becoming distributors of our products.
We installed three solar systems in rural areas in two houses and a church and a water pumping system in a communal well and have left another 6 systems to be installed by Guguplex Nigeria over the coming month. These early installations are giving us excellent feedback on the performance of the systems and how people are using them which allows us to improve the systems and how they are configured. We quickly realised that even in basic village homes people wanted 4+ lights even if they were all not used at the same time as many homes are made up of multiple small rooms rather than large open plan living areas.
The other revelation was the amount of money people spend powering generators. Nigeria is the world's largest import market for generators and all though cheap to buy, running costs even with the heavily subsidised local petrol soon mount up. We were able to demonstrate to people how over a 3 year period a generator would be 2-3 times as expensive to run as a similarly functional solar system.
We are now planning to make available a significant number of solar systems in Nigeria by February due to the demand we had and the market potential within Nigeria. Both awareness of and availability of solar equipment there is quite low so we have a big opportunity to educate and inform people as to what is now possible with solar technology.
Below are some of the images of our adventures - there is now Light where previously there was none!
Local churches took a particular interest and we spoke to several thousand people in five different churches on one Sunday morning sharing the vision for solar power in rural areas. Because many of the churches are actively engaged with rural communities they saw the benefits straight away.
We have partnered with a local Nigerians to set-up Guguplex Nigeria Ltd. and ran a solar workshop for over 150 people on the possibilities and benefits of solar systems and had several approach us with a view to becoming distributors of our products.
We installed three solar systems in rural areas in two houses and a church and a water pumping system in a communal well and have left another 6 systems to be installed by Guguplex Nigeria over the coming month. These early installations are giving us excellent feedback on the performance of the systems and how people are using them which allows us to improve the systems and how they are configured. We quickly realised that even in basic village homes people wanted 4+ lights even if they were all not used at the same time as many homes are made up of multiple small rooms rather than large open plan living areas.
The other revelation was the amount of money people spend powering generators. Nigeria is the world's largest import market for generators and all though cheap to buy, running costs even with the heavily subsidised local petrol soon mount up. We were able to demonstrate to people how over a 3 year period a generator would be 2-3 times as expensive to run as a similarly functional solar system.
We are now planning to make available a significant number of solar systems in Nigeria by February due to the demand we had and the market potential within Nigeria. Both awareness of and availability of solar equipment there is quite low so we have a big opportunity to educate and inform people as to what is now possible with solar technology.
Below are some of the images of our adventures - there is now Light where previously there was none!
Thursday 13 October 2011
Nigeria Visit
Off to Nigeria on Monday for a follow up visit to our initial trial in June. This time we will be expanding it significantly as well as attending the Nigeria Alternative Energy expo. We're aiming to run workshops for local people interested in getting involved and trialling new equipment in key villages. A great opportunity to see how people approach our products and what kind of uses they put them to.
We will be posting pictures and videos on here over the coming two weeks.
Off to Nigeria on Monday for a follow up visit to our initial trial in June. This time we will be expanding it significantly as well as attending the Nigeria Alternative Energy expo. We're aiming to run workshops for local people interested in getting involved and trialling new equipment in key villages. A great opportunity to see how people approach our products and what kind of uses they put them to.
We will be posting pictures and videos on here over the coming two weeks.
Wednesday 21 September 2011
Hardware Testing
One of Guguplex's aims is to ensure all our systems maximise the performance/value equation (dollars per lumen (the unit of light used as a standard measurement for brightness)). This means we test components from many different suppliers to find the best performing ones for the price. One area we see quite a bit of variability is LED light bulbs. These have been making big strides in cost and performance over the last year as manufacturing ramps up globally and we have been testing many different types to determine the most effective for our small systems.
LED light bulbs offer significant advantages over all other types of light bulbs. In the lower power ranges they are the most efficient light bulbs available - essential when using small battery systems. They also switch on immediately, do not reach high temperatures and have very high durability - some models can last up to 20 years without a problem. They also contain no mercury, the big problem associated with CFL (Compact Fluorescent) bulbs commonly on the market these days as safe disposal of these bulbs in the remoter regions we are serving is not possible.
The catch to all these plus points? - Price. LED bulbs have typically been very expensive, but just in the last year alone we have seen manufacturing prices drop rapidly and LED bulbs are now starting to come down to a price close to CFL's.
Currently on my test bench I have a whole variety of different LED bulbs of different shapes, and power from common round light bulbs to spotlights, T8 style strip lights and ceiling down lights. All have different applications and may prove useful in certain circumstances. Bulbs are great in the home while sometimes spotlights are ideal for outside for security or illuminating work areas.
At Guguplex we test all our bulbs for efficiency, colour quality and intensity to ensure the best types are used in our kits. Our intention is that the bulbs should last the lifetime of the solar panel - 25 years. This should help ensure that Guguplex's lighting kits are known for their quality. Having seen other lighting kits on the market I believe this is the area where we offer by far and away the best performance - significantly brighter lighting kits that provide much more useful levels of light more akin to what people in grid connected homes experience.
One of Guguplex's aims is to ensure all our systems maximise the performance/value equation (dollars per lumen (the unit of light used as a standard measurement for brightness)). This means we test components from many different suppliers to find the best performing ones for the price. One area we see quite a bit of variability is LED light bulbs. These have been making big strides in cost and performance over the last year as manufacturing ramps up globally and we have been testing many different types to determine the most effective for our small systems.
LED light bulbs offer significant advantages over all other types of light bulbs. In the lower power ranges they are the most efficient light bulbs available - essential when using small battery systems. They also switch on immediately, do not reach high temperatures and have very high durability - some models can last up to 20 years without a problem. They also contain no mercury, the big problem associated with CFL (Compact Fluorescent) bulbs commonly on the market these days as safe disposal of these bulbs in the remoter regions we are serving is not possible.
The catch to all these plus points? - Price. LED bulbs have typically been very expensive, but just in the last year alone we have seen manufacturing prices drop rapidly and LED bulbs are now starting to come down to a price close to CFL's.
Currently on my test bench I have a whole variety of different LED bulbs of different shapes, and power from common round light bulbs to spotlights, T8 style strip lights and ceiling down lights. All have different applications and may prove useful in certain circumstances. Bulbs are great in the home while sometimes spotlights are ideal for outside for security or illuminating work areas.
At Guguplex we test all our bulbs for efficiency, colour quality and intensity to ensure the best types are used in our kits. Our intention is that the bulbs should last the lifetime of the solar panel - 25 years. This should help ensure that Guguplex's lighting kits are known for their quality. Having seen other lighting kits on the market I believe this is the area where we offer by far and away the best performance - significantly brighter lighting kits that provide much more useful levels of light more akin to what people in grid connected homes experience.
Tuesday 20 September 2011
Suriname Takes Off!
Guguplex has been blessed in the last month by the support of Pastor Rodney Jaggernauth in Trinidad & Tobago. A regular visitor on mission trips to the interiors of Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana, Pastor Rodney identified with Guguplex's vision seeing the need for solar power in the places that he travelled to which are decades away from receiving a connection to the electrical grid. He has been working with us on a voluntary basis on a plan to install a number of systems in the the Suriname interior and carry out training workshops for interested churches, businessmen and tradespeople in the country. His links with organisations have given us an opportunity to share the system with a wider audience and get real on-the-ground feedback from users.
Guguplex will be donating a number of systems to villages and churches in the interior to allow them to test it and evaluate the benefits. We will also be training people on how they work and how to install the systems. If demand is as expected we will resource local people to start selling and installing larger quantities of systems to these communities and will also be looking at ways to provide micro-financing to ensure affordability.
We are currently looking at making our first trip to Suriname in the beginning of December and of course we will be updating with pictures and video here on this blog.
Guguplex has been blessed in the last month by the support of Pastor Rodney Jaggernauth in Trinidad & Tobago. A regular visitor on mission trips to the interiors of Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana, Pastor Rodney identified with Guguplex's vision seeing the need for solar power in the places that he travelled to which are decades away from receiving a connection to the electrical grid. He has been working with us on a voluntary basis on a plan to install a number of systems in the the Suriname interior and carry out training workshops for interested churches, businessmen and tradespeople in the country. His links with organisations have given us an opportunity to share the system with a wider audience and get real on-the-ground feedback from users.
Guguplex will be donating a number of systems to villages and churches in the interior to allow them to test it and evaluate the benefits. We will also be training people on how they work and how to install the systems. If demand is as expected we will resource local people to start selling and installing larger quantities of systems to these communities and will also be looking at ways to provide micro-financing to ensure affordability.
We are currently looking at making our first trip to Suriname in the beginning of December and of course we will be updating with pictures and video here on this blog.
Tuesday 23 August 2011
What is Guguplex about?
So the question people ask is what is Guguplex Technologies about? What are we trying to do as a company? What is our vision and goals?
Principally we are about providing modern life-changing energy technology to the very poorest who are normally neglected by larger corporations to give them the same opportunities that other people take for granted. The reason we do this is that we are passionate about sharing the love of Jesus by bringing both physical and spiritual light to people.
So does this make Guguplex a charity? No - Guguplex eventually aims to run profitable small businesses in the countries it operates in, owned and operated by local people in each country. So why do we seek to make a profit if we claim that our purpose is purely for the benefit of others. Several reasons drive why we believe a profit driven model is better in the long run:
1. More sustainable - a charitable model only lasts as long as other people's desire to give away money, a profitable business has more consistent revenue that can be used to expand the business and employ more people. Successful growing businesses done right are an enormous blessing to a local community.
2. Places a greater value on the service offered - people will accept anything for free and will often treat it as such. If Guguplex is offering a truly useful product people will pay for it and treat it with the necessary care that their investment deserves. This creates a culture of ownership which is equally important for long term success.
3. Creates an incentive for local people to grow the business and reach more people - there is a desperate need for skilled jobs in developing countries that generate a living wage. We cannot expect people to get involved and give their time for free when they are struggling to survive and support families. Their investment in providing this for others should also be an investment in their future as well.
Mobile phones have clearly shown how profit driven technology companies can be far more effective than aid and development programmes in reaching people if people truly see the product as useful. They have revolutionised life in many parts of Africa and continue to do so. If Guguplex is to reach those who would most benefit from solar lighting and on a scale that truly makes an impact it must become a profitable business.
Now the need to make a profit and the issue of exploiting others to enrich one's self is often at the forefront of development conversations. What is a morally responsible reward to receive for one's time and risk investment? Well to avoid this issue distracting from the overarching objectives, Guguplex's founder's are currently starting up these businesses on a personal not for profit basis i.e. we do not intend to make any profit from this work over the coming months. This keeps it clear that this is not being done for our personal enrichment.
Our vision is that we will create a growing number of small successful businesses run on Christian principles that successfully meet the needs of their communities in terms of practical help, personal skills development, economic growth and spiritual understanding.
Key to this will be how successfully we can train people in the skills needed to run a solar business both on the technical and the managerial side. This is a key aim in our partnerships with existing organisations working in these countries, to provide us with the knowledge and experience that they have accumulated over many years of work and use it to shape the way we operate. We don't pretend to be experts, we simply work with those who are so that we can share their expertise in practical ways. We are blessed to have many offers of help to date and we only see this expanding as other people identify with our vision and desire to contribute some of their expertise towards it.
This is part of God's model for us in his family, that we work together collectively sharing our many unique God-given talents to create something which is much greater than the sum of it's parts. And in that though we are working for the benefit of others, we ourselves are blessed.
Principally we are about providing modern life-changing energy technology to the very poorest who are normally neglected by larger corporations to give them the same opportunities that other people take for granted. The reason we do this is that we are passionate about sharing the love of Jesus by bringing both physical and spiritual light to people.
So does this make Guguplex a charity? No - Guguplex eventually aims to run profitable small businesses in the countries it operates in, owned and operated by local people in each country. So why do we seek to make a profit if we claim that our purpose is purely for the benefit of others. Several reasons drive why we believe a profit driven model is better in the long run:
1. More sustainable - a charitable model only lasts as long as other people's desire to give away money, a profitable business has more consistent revenue that can be used to expand the business and employ more people. Successful growing businesses done right are an enormous blessing to a local community.
2. Places a greater value on the service offered - people will accept anything for free and will often treat it as such. If Guguplex is offering a truly useful product people will pay for it and treat it with the necessary care that their investment deserves. This creates a culture of ownership which is equally important for long term success.
3. Creates an incentive for local people to grow the business and reach more people - there is a desperate need for skilled jobs in developing countries that generate a living wage. We cannot expect people to get involved and give their time for free when they are struggling to survive and support families. Their investment in providing this for others should also be an investment in their future as well.
Mobile phones have clearly shown how profit driven technology companies can be far more effective than aid and development programmes in reaching people if people truly see the product as useful. They have revolutionised life in many parts of Africa and continue to do so. If Guguplex is to reach those who would most benefit from solar lighting and on a scale that truly makes an impact it must become a profitable business.
Now the need to make a profit and the issue of exploiting others to enrich one's self is often at the forefront of development conversations. What is a morally responsible reward to receive for one's time and risk investment? Well to avoid this issue distracting from the overarching objectives, Guguplex's founder's are currently starting up these businesses on a personal not for profit basis i.e. we do not intend to make any profit from this work over the coming months. This keeps it clear that this is not being done for our personal enrichment.
Our vision is that we will create a growing number of small successful businesses run on Christian principles that successfully meet the needs of their communities in terms of practical help, personal skills development, economic growth and spiritual understanding.
Key to this will be how successfully we can train people in the skills needed to run a solar business both on the technical and the managerial side. This is a key aim in our partnerships with existing organisations working in these countries, to provide us with the knowledge and experience that they have accumulated over many years of work and use it to shape the way we operate. We don't pretend to be experts, we simply work with those who are so that we can share their expertise in practical ways. We are blessed to have many offers of help to date and we only see this expanding as other people identify with our vision and desire to contribute some of their expertise towards it.
This is part of God's model for us in his family, that we work together collectively sharing our many unique God-given talents to create something which is much greater than the sum of it's parts. And in that though we are working for the benefit of others, we ourselves are blessed.
Thursday 11 August 2011
Video Up!
Well after lots of editing I have finally finished my first introductory video to our solar project which I have embedded below. This outlines the general philosophy of the system and some of Guguplex's aims for the project.
We have recently been asked to get involved with a project building Children's homes in Kenya and also to showcase the system in the rainforest interior of Suriname where most communities live along the rivers at the edge of the jungle. We will be travelling to these places over the coming months to set-up trial systems and educate local communities around what is possible.
Following the feedback from these trips we intend to start looking at setting up local businesses in each location that can distribute and install the systems for the local communities creating economic opportunities for these communities.
Next step will be working on an educational package of videos and manuals to help explain and teach people how to install and maintain these systems for themselves.
We have recently been asked to get involved with a project building Children's homes in Kenya and also to showcase the system in the rainforest interior of Suriname where most communities live along the rivers at the edge of the jungle. We will be travelling to these places over the coming months to set-up trial systems and educate local communities around what is possible.
Following the feedback from these trips we intend to start looking at setting up local businesses in each location that can distribute and install the systems for the local communities creating economic opportunities for these communities.
Next step will be working on an educational package of videos and manuals to help explain and teach people how to install and maintain these systems for themselves.
Sunday 10 July 2011
Solar Adventures Blog started!
So I have setup my first blog and I plan to be capturing the the adventures of the upcoming 6 months here for people to keep track of. Guguplex Technologies will be travelling to Nigeria and Kenya to set-up rural trials of low cost solar lighting kits and train people to establish local business to sell and install the systems to the communities.
Our first trial is already underway in Kaduna, Nigeria and we are partnering with a major Christian Charity to setup trials in some of their existing projects in Kenya.
Pics and video coming soon.
Our first trial is already underway in Kaduna, Nigeria and we are partnering with a major Christian Charity to setup trials in some of their existing projects in Kenya.
Pics and video coming soon.
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