So, these past few days have been whirlwind as we’ve been going from office to office trying to complete all the documentation needed for a start-up, from the Tanzania Revenue Authority to the Commissioner’s Office to the Municipal Office to the Immigration Office. Now, all that remains is our business license, and we will now be free to reach out to as many customers as possible.
And so next week, our journey will begin. With our new pick-up, that I purchased as somewhat of joint personal and company investment, we will head to the markets to show off our machine, get customer feedback, and prepare for the sale of our products. It will be tough due to the drought that has swept Tanzania (and therefore, no maize), but we will overcome this challenge. We will just have to think creatively to thoroughly test our product and reach out to farmers who suffered a loss this year, so get ready for some adventurous stories to come.
Showing posts with label fieldwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fieldwork. Show all posts
Hunt for cycles
With today as a holiday, we took this opportunity to go to the villages. It was a fascinating experience, as for the first time, we didn’t bring the bicycle with us, only the machine. This expedition proved more challenging than I would have expected, as the first village we went to, they didn’t have a bicycle available. So, they called a few friends, and they brought a bike without a stand. We unfortunately hadn’t brought a stand with us, so our machine would essentially be nonfunctional.
Despite this challenge, we decided we’d at least try to install it, and much to my disappointment, we found even more difficulties, such as stripped threads on the rear hub, which made it difficult to secure our machine on the bicycle. We installed it anyways, and using ourselves as the stand, we got it to work. I would have loved to leave the machine with them, as I, for the first time, actually witnessed the beating of corn with a stick. We would have left it with them, but we were unfortunately a day late as the tractor with the maize sheller had come just a day earlier. As villagers close to town, technology such as the tractor machine industrial sheller, was locally available.
However, in a village less than a kilometer away, they were all still beating corn with a stick. This time, we had to go on yet another hunt for a bike. And we faced the same issues. One bike was too big, and then the other bike was missing a stand. Again, we ourselves functioned as a stand, and the chairman loved it! He has already offered to arrange a meeting to show all the villagers our machine. The only downside was the bike that we found that worked belonged to the milkman. So, just after installing it, we had to remove it yet again to return the bike. The good news though is that the chairman was prepared to go find another bicycle so he could arrange a meeting to show the village. Unfortunately, he lacked the appropriate tools, so we left a few tools with him to ensure his future assembly of the machine.
So, I guess in the end, we learned that we must provide a stand, and if we want to really make an impression, we need to bring the bicycle, as temporary assembly is no easy task. For future village visits, we will plan accordingly.
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Jodie, Tanzania
Despite this challenge, we decided we’d at least try to install it, and much to my disappointment, we found even more difficulties, such as stripped threads on the rear hub, which made it difficult to secure our machine on the bicycle. We installed it anyways, and using ourselves as the stand, we got it to work. I would have loved to leave the machine with them, as I, for the first time, actually witnessed the beating of corn with a stick. We would have left it with them, but we were unfortunately a day late as the tractor with the maize sheller had come just a day earlier. As villagers close to town, technology such as the tractor machine industrial sheller, was locally available.
However, in a village less than a kilometer away, they were all still beating corn with a stick. This time, we had to go on yet another hunt for a bike. And we faced the same issues. One bike was too big, and then the other bike was missing a stand. Again, we ourselves functioned as a stand, and the chairman loved it! He has already offered to arrange a meeting to show all the villagers our machine. The only downside was the bike that we found that worked belonged to the milkman. So, just after installing it, we had to remove it yet again to return the bike. The good news though is that the chairman was prepared to go find another bicycle so he could arrange a meeting to show the village. Unfortunately, he lacked the appropriate tools, so we left a few tools with him to ensure his future assembly of the machine.
So, I guess in the end, we learned that we must provide a stand, and if we want to really make an impression, we need to bring the bicycle, as temporary assembly is no easy task. For future village visits, we will plan accordingly.
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Jodie, Tanzania
First Village visit with CNFA
On Friday, we went to Manyata for our first village visit with CNFA, and it was an incredible experience! The event itself wasn’t a big deal, but just seeing the crowd’s reaction was amazing. Philemon pitched the products and then ended with a demonstration of our sheller, and the 70 people in attendance went wild! Everyone was seated, and everyone started cheering, and then they came running!
Although we had to take off as soon as the meeting ended due to other obligations of CNFA, the impressions on the farmers were real. We gave them our 100 brochures, and as for the connections, I know that CNFA will be our route to meeting these farmers.
Even more, in presenting our product to the farmers, we also connected to the other dealers and organizations in attendance. One of the ladies of CNFA, who was based in Kenya, told us that she would pass word of our machine to Kenya, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all works out.
As for other things, our company is finally registered! So, now we’ll be heading to the Tanzania Revenue Authority to finally get our TIN and then open our bank account. We also got five new shellers from Karam, and they look fantastic. On Monday, we plan to start visiting villages. More stories to come later.
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Jodie, Tanzania
Although we had to take off as soon as the meeting ended due to other obligations of CNFA, the impressions on the farmers were real. We gave them our 100 brochures, and as for the connections, I know that CNFA will be our route to meeting these farmers.
Even more, in presenting our product to the farmers, we also connected to the other dealers and organizations in attendance. One of the ladies of CNFA, who was based in Kenya, told us that she would pass word of our machine to Kenya, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all works out.
As for other things, our company is finally registered! So, now we’ll be heading to the Tanzania Revenue Authority to finally get our TIN and then open our bank account. We also got five new shellers from Karam, and they look fantastic. On Monday, we plan to start visiting villages. More stories to come later.
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Jodie, Tanzania
Big Week
This week was filled with big events. Beginning with Monday, we finally got our first 5 shellers. We immediately took this opportunity to take two of them to dealers and then the rest out to testing. The machines worked beautifully, with a few kinks in the design here and there.
On Wednesday, we opened our office! We had no power, which was a downside, but it was productive nonetheless, as we finished furnishing our office, with brochures, curtains, our door sign, etc.
On Thursday, our shipment of shellers not only left China, but we made our first sale! Actually, it’s our second sale, but it’s the first one since I’ve been here. I was a bit upset at first, as it was still in its testing phase and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect, but our customer loved it as it was. I think the greatest part of this sale though was that our product sold for nearly full price, AND our customer didn’t already have Phoenix Bike. So, she actually bought a bicycle just so she could use our machine, which I believe is saying a lot.
On Friday, we met with the Manager of Sales and Marketing of the Tanganyika Farmers Association (TFA). This was really eye-opening, as the discussion went from introducing our product to discussing how TFA sells its products and if we would be open to their approach if they decided to distribute our product and if we had the capacity to scale if they sold our product in all 11 branches across Tanzania. We will be continuing our conversation once we have registered as a company (which should be next week as the papers are already off to Dar for approval!).
And on Saturday, we finally had a heart-to-heart with Karam Engineering. From our conversation, I learned a lot about Karam Engineering’s relationship with Kickstart. Eight years ago, Karam started making Kickstart’s pumps, and it took two years for them to finally develop the perfect machine that could last. Since working with Kickstart, they have had no complaints in all their years. This aspect reflects highly on Karam Engineering, but it also says a lot about Kickstart…
As for next week, some places are now harvesting corn in Arusha, so we will be demonstrating our device wherever we go. Moreover, our 25 shellers will be ready, so I’m really looking forward to building our bicycle dealer network. And our company should be registered, so we can now get things moving towards actually generating the revenues.
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Jodie, Tanzania
The GCS Staff House
"Our weekend was filled with a bunch of odd jobs—finding a secretary to staff our office when we’re off at meetings, finding a sign painter for our office front and road sign, and finding a carpenter to make the doors of our office. We did find a secretary, who had strong recommendations from her former employer, but we soon discovered that she spoke little English and she would need a place to live. Our resolution…she’d live with me…I’d tutor her in English, and she’d tutor me in KiSwahili. The question then was where... The result? I decided to pay a year’s rent to help Philemon finish his [unfinished] house. I would live in the future newly finished part of his house ... not only will these new spaces be for me, but also for his family. In a lot of essences, it’s a win-win situation.
I think the best way to summarize what we were up to, though, I’d have to say that Philemon summarized it perfectly, “It’ll be the Global Cycle Solutions Staff House. We can put a sign outside.” This would really be the Global Cycle Solutions Staff House and I about died laughing…all three GCS Tanzania staff living in the same house.
So, what’s next?
Next week: testing all 5 products... manufacture remaining 25 products...
I think the best way to summarize what we were up to, though, I’d have to say that Philemon summarized it perfectly, “It’ll be the Global Cycle Solutions Staff House. We can put a sign outside.” This would really be the Global Cycle Solutions Staff House and I about died laughing…all three GCS Tanzania staff living in the same house.
So, what’s next?
Next week: testing all 5 products... manufacture remaining 25 products...
Week after next: Distribute shellers [designated for customers]
[Customer options will be to either rent it after paying a deposit or to purchase the sheller]
We’ll see how it all goes!"
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We’ll see how it all goes!"
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Jodie, Tanzania
Green Hope
"My day started with Philemon coming to pick me up, and then getting
out of the car, and telling me, “Drive.” So, that’s what I learned
today, to drive…backwards. Everything is opposite the regular
direction except for the pedals. I had no problem, except for
shifting the clutch, which was now on my left, and then accidentally
turning on the windshield wipers when I meant to turn on the turn
signal. With our Swahili classes and now my ability to drive in
Tanzania, Philemon and I will be able to start working independently
of one another soon enough.
Our day started at Karam Engineering, where we decided we should hand
test the grinder. The good news was that the grinder worked for
grinding dried corn, but the bad news was that this corn would never
be fine enough for Tanzanian use, where the corn is usually ground
into a fine powder and turned into ugali, the local staple food.
Although a bit disheartening, Karam has helped us solve the most
difficult parts of our products, and though the grinder is not good
for Tanzania, it is still useful for other parts of the world,
especially places like Mexico, where they grind boiled corn to make
some local dishes.
We had envisioned a universal interface, and we’ve solved that
problem. But, for Tanzanians, at least for farmers, their biggest
need is the maize sheller itself. I say this because today we took
our product to our first customer in Arusha. I thought we would be
delivering our product to a farmer, but we soon realized that we were
delivering our product to an NGO called Green Hope, which works with
orphans and vulnerable children all over Tanzania. Meeting them was
really eye-opening for me, as I never really thought of our maize
sheller as a product to improve the lives or orphans and vulnerable
children, but it is indeed so, as these children are the ones usually
shelling the corn, beating the corn in a bag for a small pay at the
end of the day.
We’ll see how Green Hope likes our shellers!"
out of the car, and telling me, “Drive.” So, that’s what I learned
today, to drive…backwards. Everything is opposite the regular
direction except for the pedals. I had no problem, except for
shifting the clutch, which was now on my left, and then accidentally
turning on the windshield wipers when I meant to turn on the turn
signal. With our Swahili classes and now my ability to drive in
Tanzania, Philemon and I will be able to start working independently
of one another soon enough.
Our day started at Karam Engineering, where we decided we should hand
test the grinder. The good news was that the grinder worked for
grinding dried corn, but the bad news was that this corn would never
be fine enough for Tanzanian use, where the corn is usually ground
into a fine powder and turned into ugali, the local staple food.
Although a bit disheartening, Karam has helped us solve the most
difficult parts of our products, and though the grinder is not good
for Tanzania, it is still useful for other parts of the world,
especially places like Mexico, where they grind boiled corn to make
some local dishes.
We had envisioned a universal interface, and we’ve solved that
problem. But, for Tanzanians, at least for farmers, their biggest
need is the maize sheller itself. I say this because today we took
our product to our first customer in Arusha. I thought we would be
delivering our product to a farmer, but we soon realized that we were
delivering our product to an NGO called Green Hope, which works with
orphans and vulnerable children all over Tanzania. Meeting them was
really eye-opening for me, as I never really thought of our maize
sheller as a product to improve the lives or orphans and vulnerable
children, but it is indeed so, as these children are the ones usually
shelling the corn, beating the corn in a bag for a small pay at the
end of the day.
We’ll see how Green Hope likes our shellers!"
--
Jodie, Tanzania
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