kikatiti demo

Today I experienced my second GCS demo. This one was at a CNFA agrodealer exhibition in Kikatiti, Tanzania. The exhibition site was located in an open field near an elementary school pretty high in the hills. Once we set up the tent, Philemon and I prepared our booth and waited for the villagers to come. A small crowd soon formed around us as we began shelling the maize we brought with us. After shelling a few cobs, I got off the bike and passed out brochures. With my limited knowledge of Kiswahili, I said "Nasema Kiswahili kidogo tu" ("I only speak a little Swahili") to anyone who spoke to me and pointed at the brochure if I heard "shingapi?" ("how much?"). We also demonstrated the cell phone charger which went over very well with the crowd. Ultimately, our customers will be the other agrodealers present at the exhibition so we will have to figure out the best way to get them as interested in our devices as the villagers were.

embu demonstration

Upon returning from Ethiopia, I met up with Jodie and Daniel in Nairobi, Kenya to head to Embu (a city northwest of Nairobi) for a project demonstration. In Embu, we met with Mama Peter, the chairwoman of the Kenera Women's Water Project, and some members of the town youth group. We came because we heard the community had maize ready for shelling and since dry maize is pretty scarce this time in Arusha, we were eager to get feedback on our sheller. After talking with the group about the Water Project and our maize sheller, we went to Mama Peter's farm where a pile of maize drying in the sun awaited us. We assembled the machine with a few of the group members and began shelling the corn. Unfortunately, the maize wasn't quite dry enough and we had a difficult time trying to shell it. Next, we demonstrated the cell phone charger but the group informed us that most of the villagers have access to electricity so the demand for a bicycle powered charger wouldn't be as high.

Afterward, we showed the group how they could use the leftover corn husks and cobs to make charcoal in a metal drum. The process is relatively simple: you layer the cobs and husks inside the drum, light it on fire from the top and bottom, burn off the water, cover it, mix it with cassava, and press it to briquettes. The group was very impressed with the charcoal (more so than they were with the maize sheller) and interested in exploring the business opportunities our devices presented. We left a maize sheller with the group and they told us they would do more testing once the maize dried for a few
more days.