Sector Directory

Organization

SWITCH SA

Mission

SWITCH is a Haitian company whose objective is to help Haitian households change their source of energy for cooking by substituting propane to wood charcoal, this, by selling propane stoves with their cylinders to members of the Haitian diaspora to be delivered to their relatives in Haiti. The approach of the diaspora was chosen to overcome the barrier to entry (the cost of the first propane kit) for most Haitian families. With 95% of the population using wood charcoal and only 2% of forest coverage, Haiti is an environmental disaster and drastic actions need to be taken. SWITCH stoves are produced locally. In the Diaspora we will have: - Points of physical distribution - (over two hundred stores with a large Haitian customer base where they can can place their orders for their family living in Haiti). - E-commerce: customers around the world can buy kits online on our website. For distribution in Haiti network receipt points will include gaz stations participating in the program and hardware stores operating throughout the country. The first year we plan to produce at least 28,800 stoves per year. We should be able to sell 24,000 stoves in the first year and gradually increase our production in the second and third years.

Organizational Expertise

Marketing

Technologies & Fuels

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)

Clean Cooking Activities

Our project includes two innovative aspects.


Innovative financing : All studies on the subject have shown that the barrier to adoption of propane as cooking energy remains the financial inability of the average Haitian home to purchase the starter kit consisting of the stove and cylinder . The solution found by our team is to involve the Haitian expatriate families in North America to finance the starter kit for their relatives in Haiti . By the same mechanism , the Diaspora will also finance the necessary periodic filling of propane.® 

Innovation in Product : For this massive propane substitution , we have made sure, through research and focus groups to develop a kit adapted to the constraints, habits and Haitian realities. Contrary to past practice , we offer a bottle of 12 pounds instead of 25 pounds. This idea related to an approach to increase consumption for populations with low incomes (at the bottom of the pyramid ) allows consumers to have access to affordable small-scale products best suited to their levels of daily income. In addition, we designed the stove to be appropriately sized for pots traditionally used in Haitian homes. The burners were chosen for their low energy use (low level of BTUs). Finally windbreaks were installed on our model so as to make efficient use outdoors.In the context of our project, the direct beneficiary is a home that receives a kit with a propane stove from a parent living abroad through our platform. This home benefits from a program in the sense that through our approach to marketing, distribution and execution we managed to convince the parent to join this effort of reforestation instead of shipping a second TV to his family in Haiti. After receiving this gift he / she will also benefit from savings resulting from the use of a source of energy cheaper than wood charcoal. A saving of 25 gourdes (0.58 $US) per day adds up to represent U.S. $ 200.00 at the end of the year. In this sense, and based on our sales figures rather conservative, we hope to reach 24,000 beneficiaries / households over a year. In addition, we will train at least 14 people so they can work at the manufacture, creating new jobs with an opportunity to create more.® 

Partnership

SWITCH would like to share experience on opening sales and marketing strategies to expand the propane use in Haiti and see how it was done in other countries. We would like to offer our expertise in the use of remittances as a lift to the market barrier to entry.
We would also like to create partnerships on how to fund our initiative to carbon credit trades.

Regions Operating In

Latin America and Caribbean

Country Based In

Haiti

Address

32 Delmas 60

Delmas,

Primary Point of Contact

Name: Mrs. Kalinda Magloire

Title: Chairman

Email: haitiswitch@gmail.com

Phone: 509 37021100

Secondary Point of Contact

Name: Mr. Raymond Jeanty

Title: Secretary

Email: rjeanty@yahoo.com