A Case Study on Zambia: The Challenge of Rural Distribution and Affordability
by Bettina Naef
Abstract
Around 600 million people in Africa still lack access to electricity and often rely on comparatively expensive and unsustainable energy sources to cover their lighting and charging needs. While good technological solutions exist namely in the field of solar energy, there are many challenges in effectively serving these target markets, which are usually little developed and hard to reach.
OOLUX is one of a growing number of solar lighting and charging devices designed to meet the needs of un-electrified people living at the base of the pyramid (BOP). This thesis analyses the challenges of marketing OOLUX in rural Zambia, where the distribution of the product has recently been launched in the framework of a field test. On that basis, it evaluates possible strategies for the OOLUX venture in Zambia to overcome the identified challenges successfully.