Overview
Much of Africa is in the dark at night, what lighting they do have is costing the country and its people dearly, while the developed world including China converts to LED lighting.
I am pioneering the switching over of CFL bulbs to LED with the first one FREE of charge
China is dumping low quality cheap CFL bulbs into much of Africa, imported by traders who seek a fast return by buying cheap and selling cheap, who only see the continued purchase every day by its people, rich or poor. The same goes for throw away
cheap batteries, instead of re chargeable ones. The multinational manufactures will do all they can to stop the expansion of such products that have a life of 5 years and more.
This first of many Rural Village projects will start in the Yonso Village in the Ashanti region, Ghana.
I have already lived with my social NGO partner Kwabena Danso, already a celebrity on TV after being put forward for his work in creating a school that educated young rural kids with donations from the USA collages. His dedicated efforts over 10 years
in the education of local children and setting up a Bamboo Bike Frame business, with 80% exported to Europe, is the reason I am supporting his vision of a better life for rural villages in Ghana.
My Story
My Name is Eric Hawkins; I am British and started my working life as a chef from the age of 15, after leaving school with a basic education. I am now 67, semi-retired and have worked all my life, travelled many parts of the world since I first went to work
for a Hotel owner in Switzerland at the age of 20. At the age of 27, I decided it was time to work for myself, and opened my first greengrocer business in Bournemouth, Dorset, UK.
For the next 35 years I set up 14 new companies from Spain to Cyprus to China as well as in the UK. This guaranteed me employment for myself. In the past 25 years, I have educated myself in everything related to sustainable living, from zero energy
homes, rain water harvesting to solar thermal system design and energy saving technologies. My latest solar panel design (PVT) which combines power and water heating generation, is soon to be tested in Davos, Switzerland for snow melting in winter months and
cooling the PV panels in the summer months.
20 years of those 25 years has been spent in Cyprus and in and out of China, where my designs were manufactured.
It's now with all this knowhow and experience I have gained that I am giving my time and this knowledge nobody can buy, to pioneer this well thought out project that will save both money for the poorest of people in Ghana, who I hope will tell others
of the wonders of LED lighting
The Business Model
We are starting with a trial delivery of 5,000 LED bulbs, to be given away free in exchange for 1 old bulb per family, so they can test it and understand the $$ savings in running cost and not have to change it for a new one after a few months of use, as
is the situation right now.
A typical low cost energy saving florescent (CFL) bulb uses 11 -15 watts of electricity an hour with 2-3 replacements per bulb a year costing from $2.00 each plus the electricity cost.
I will educate a few selected young people from the Village with the help of Kwabena, through the school he set up 10 years ago with American funding so the village children could be educated to collage levels and even into Universities.
The chief of one village has allocated a large courtyard and secured stores for the delivery of the LED bulbs to the people. No need for any adverts for this project to take off, as the publicity from the people will do the job, followed by TV reporters
from the City TV stations, which Kwabena knows very well.
For every CFL bulb handed into the center, a 5 watt LED will be given out free, along with some educational information into what the long term benefits will be to them and the village.
A 2nd, 3rd or 4th LED will also offered to them in exchange for other old CFL bulbs, but at a cost of $2.00 each, so we can finance the next shipment, as this is ongoing.
As we succeed with the first village, the model will be created in the next one and so on. For every $20.00 donated, 18 LED 5 watt bulbs can be purchased and shipped to Ghana.
My Facebook pages (facebook.com/eric.hawkins.900 and facebook.com/speedflex) and ongoing YouTube Video
presentations will keep everybody updated.
We will of course upset a few importers and resellers of CFL bulbs, but in time, we hope to encourage them to invest and be part of our LIGHT UP AFRICA with light bulbs that last a life time and deliver a quality light, unlike what is imported to date.
Ongoing
Once we have achieved stage one, stage 2 with a small profit from stage one, is to raise $30,000, so we can ship 24,000 LED bulbs into other parts of this Rural area, using the model created in the Yonoso Region.
Not only will jobs be created, 90% of the old bulbs will never ever be sold again, the village people will be better off, but more important, have a quality LIGHT, they can work and read with, that uses 70% less power. The business sector will be treated
as commercial, with no giveaways, but educated to why its important to switch away from compact floresent tubes to LED
Once the village people are serviced and is then managed by the people, the next step is to go after the businesses, who are also buying low quality lighting, which is adding to their costs and prices.
As a solar design engineer, self taught, my ongoing job, while I have good health, is to demonstrate the huge potential solar powered lighting can provide to the villages that are off the grid. Also solar heated water, solar water pumping from the wells
and clean water from using rain fall, as it rains a lot.
Learn More
Light Up Africa's Venture Page: http://startsomegood.com/Venture/light_up_africa
Our Website: www.thermaltricity-international.com
Find me on Twitter: @eric_hawkins9
Facebook: facebook.com/eric.hawkins.900 and facebook.com/speedflex
