Lessons learned....  from Kari's blog - the Grady Grossman School in Cambodia

We left Chrauk Tiek with our team of 9 and a small box of briquettes and traveled back down the long, bumpy road to the coastal town of Kampong Som (Sihanookville).  Along the way we stopped at restaurants and vendors to test-market our product.   It was not difficult.  The demand for cooking fuel is extremely high, and the 3 traditional options – wood sticks, charcoal, and gas - are either skyrocketing in price or limited in supply.  As a result, people are surprisingly open to new ideas.  Once the briquette is demonstrated and they see how well it burns with little smoke, we get immediate orders for more.  We hoped for a 10% response to our marketing effort, and we got a 90% response.  Although logic tells us this is a good thing, that is not always the case.  The next challenge that faces us is keeping our customers supplied.  The problem is not selling them, it is producing enough and getting them to market in a timely manner.  This issue sent us back to the drawing board.  We discussed production levels, transportation and marketing.   At capacity, the 7 presses at our school operated by 19 workers can produce about a ton of briquettes a week, and once the expenses of labor and transportation are paid, we should have about $180 profit to donate back to the school.  That is enough to give 7 teachers a $20/month raise and pay for the fuel to pump water and clean the bathroom.    A committee of school supporters will need to decide cooperatively how the money we earn should be spent to strengthen the education in their community. 

to read more about their adventures in Cambodia: www.gradygrossmanschool.org/wordpress/

Some pictures of Sanu Kaji Shrestha, founder and chairman of FoST (Foundation of Sustainable Technologies - Nepal) in Cambodia:







For more information about FoST's great work - helping the poor with clean, easy, low budget technologies and protecting the environment go to:

www.fost-nepal.org