On an otherwise reasonable evening, more than 1,000 people packed an auditorium in Boulder, Colorado, for the culmination of the 2012 Unreasonable Institute. They came to see 23 ventures present their solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges.
Juan Fermin Rodriguez shares how his venture, QUETSOL offers appropriate technology solutions that sustainably provide for the energy demands of a wide variety of users at a lower ecologic, social, and economic cost. We provide our customers the necessary tools in order to become energetically independent, thus increasing their productivity and development. Our primary focus is on developing micro-scale energy solutions for families and communities who have always lacked even the most basic electrical service.
QUETSOL’s reasonable pricing allows customers to procure lighting and other electrical services at a lower cost than the alternatives – from candles and kerosene to the grid itself. Very importantly, QUETSOL has partnerships with various financial institutions that are able to provide financing for any of our products. Our company was built on the base of a profound understanding of our customer, taking in consideration their needs, limits and desires. We designed an integral business model that offers an unprescedented client service. Through product innovation, appropriate technology, national coverage, and micro-financing, our product acceptance and market penetration has grown aggressively and steadily.
What is the urgent social or environmental need you’re addressing?
Our primary focus is on developing micro-scale energy solutions for families who have always lacked the most basic electrical service. In Guatemala, around 20% of the population (2.6million people) suffer from this problem. In the world, there are around 1.5billion without a decent light in their homes. Being marginalized from the grid has dire consequences: a) Illiteracy is correlational to the grid’s coverage; b) extreme poverty due to lack of productivity tools; c) risk of respiratory diseases for children; d) general stagnation of society; all of them result in low levels of human development.
Due to the location and difficulty to reach these communities, it is most probable that the private utility companies will never reach these families because of the distance and their low consumption levels. As a result, the costs of bringing electricity to any marginalized community is transfered to the consumer, whom at the end can never pay for such a prohibitive investment.
What is your solution to this need? Describe your business strategy.
We address this issue through solar energy products that solve basic needs, such as lighting and communication. QUETSOL’s reasonable pricing allows customers to procure this and other electrical services at a lower cost than the alternatives – from candles to the grid itself. QUETSOL has partnerships with financial institutions that are able to provide financing for any of our products. These same alliances allow us to have national coverage, as we work with the country’s largest MFI, 60 branches around the country, and the largest Bank, 1000 branches.
Our service implies the following: a) community to community promo demos; b) local points of sale and training facilities; c) system maintenance and service, primarily for batteries, which have a short life span.