Haiti – Clean energy products from solar light bulbs to improved cookstoves are rapidly becoming available to communities across Haiti’s Côte Sud region through a network of small-scale entrepreneurs.
Clean energy products from solar light bulbs to improved cookstoves are rapidly becoming available to communities across the Côte Sud region through a network of small-scale entrepreneurs working with Enèji Pwòp (‘Clean Energy’ in Haitian Creole), the social enterprise arm of Côte Sud Initiative partner EarthSpark International.
Magazen Enèji Pwòp, the organization’s flagship store in Les Anglais, opened in July 2010, as a social enterprise testing ground, creating a business in small-scale household energy solutions to combat Haiti’s energy poverty.
The products promoted by Enèji Pwòp reduce dependence on wood based charcoal and increase the use of cleaner, more sustainable household energy options.
With the support of the Côte Sud Initiative, the successes experienced in Les Anglais are being scaled up through a network of trained small entrepreneurs across the South Department.
Recruited by EarthSpark staff, the new vendors of Enèji Pwòp products, men and women entrepreneurs who have small to medium scale enterprises are given trainings to introduce them to each specific clean energy product on offer through Enèji Pwòp.
Featured Enèji Pwòp products include improved cookstoves, small and medium solar home systems, and small solar light bulbs—from which individual vendors can choose products they wish to carry.
Vendors in the network are provided with marketing materials, including posters and product guides that explain all Enèji Pwòp products on offer, even those not carried by the specific vendor. Should a client make a specific request, the vendor can place an order with Enèji Pwòp and diversify their offering.
Venders earn sales margins comparable to other products they sell, and they are widely satisfied with the economic value of promoting clean household energy options. Currently there are eleven vendors in the South Department, spanning from Les Anglais to Les Cayes, from Arniquet to Port Salut.
The products most widely sold are kerosene stoves and small solar lanterns.
