Re: selling stoves - WoodGas CampStove approach

["A.D. Karve" <adkarve@pn2.vsnl.net.in>]

Dear Tom,
your marketing strategy is good for a stove developer in the U.S.  We are at
a more advantageous position, because we operate in a country in which about
70% of the population still uses biomass fueled stoves.  So, we can get our
models tested directly in villages around our city.  The developers of
stoves in the U.S. first think of the campers, and only at a later stage, of
the developing countries as a potential market. In our case, the campers'
market is so small that we just ignore it. Our primary objective is to
develop a stationary model, which would be used by a rural household.
Therefore, we do not have to be too particular about the weight and material
of construction etc.
The campers' models have the advantage that they are metallic and they can
be mass produced in a factory.  Being portable, they are perhaps better
suited for rapid distribution among refugees or among people displaced by
earthquakes, floods, etc., but that is not a stable market. The campers'
models are also substantially more costly than the models developed by us,
which our local artisans produce with the help of a mould, using either clay
or cement concrete as the raw material. The heavy weight of our stoves
prevents them to be mass produced in a central factory and transported to
the potential users all over the country.  Secondly, our stoves cannot just
be sold over the counter, because they have to be installed by an expert
into the kitchen of the client. Thus, there is also a service component to
the sale. Ours is therefore a highly decentralised industry, in which
patents are out of question, because it would be impossible to monitor their
use. We make money by selling the moulds and by charging training fees to
the artisans. Artisans, selling about 6000 to 10,000 stoves in a year, can
make a net profit of about Rs100,000 to 200,000 per annum, which is
comparable to the income of an urban middle class family in India.
A.D.Karve
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Reed <tombreed@attbi.com>
To: Paul DeBruicker <pdebruic@mgmt.purdue.edu>; stoves@crest.org
<stoves@crest.org>; Paul S. Anderson <psanders@ilstu.edu>
Cc: Bob and Karla Weldon <bobkarlaweldon@cs.com>; Katherine Cochrane
<kcochrane@earthlink.net>; Shivayam Ellis <shivayam55@hotmail.com>
Date: Monday, February 18, 2002 7:15 PM
Subject: selling stoves - WoodGas CampStove approach


>Dear Paul, Paul, and Awl:
>
>Paul D has asked some very prescient questions about propogating biomass
>stoves to a world in great need.  Paul A has outlined a reasonable plan for
>stove dissemination to the poorest of the poor.
>
>Let me outline our plan of attack for the rest of the developing world.
>
>1) We develop an elegant WoodGas stove burning biomass trash (15 minutes)
or
>pellets (45 minutes).  Shivayam and I are meeting weekly on this and I
spend
>most of my spare time on it.
>
>2) We distribute 10 stoves to "beta" testers and get feedback, make
>suggested modifications.
>
>3) We establish production, marketing and sales to the affluent U.S.
camping
>and backup market.
>
>4) We approach the High Commisioners of Refugee camps to find a test site
>for a stove modified for their fuel, cooking and production needs.
>
>5) We go successively to other refugee camps, modifying the stoves to fit
>local needs of fuel, cooking and production.
>
>6) As we  fill the refugee camp needs, we consider "stovifying" the
>surrounding countryside.
>
>We would welcome comments from all sides.
>
>Tom Reed,  Shivayam Ellis,  Katherine Cochrane   THE BEF STOVEWORKS
>
>PS:  Paul DeBruicker, Vivian and I hope to be in Illinois in May.  Hope you
>can join us..



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