Our Role

Upon engaging the organization through a detailed needs assessment, TEL initially identified and procured demo solar lighting solutions from five different providers for field testing and product focus groups. TEL also led fundraising efforts to purchase inventory and fund the entrepreneurship training program. As well as participating in the design of the program, TEL is currently the lead on monitoring and evaluation. The pilot program began in 2019 and continues through 2020 with a detailed program evaluation.

Results

In phase 1, with centralized training sessions offered, the majority of attendees were men. This is believed to be due to cultural norms, where the men are tasked with “business” related activities and the women with “domestic” activities, despite being co-owners of their businesses. In the design of phase 2, we are piloting an approach that brings shorter and more practical training sessions directly to the places of business, i.e. retail shops. The topics include marketing, product demos, and basic book-keeping.