Susan Akoth arrives at the Kisumu, Kenya, Branch of Solar Sister at eight am. She puts on the electric kettle for tea, reviews the training for the day, and prepares for the Sales Agents’ arrival at 8:30 am.
“My typical day starts at five am when I wake to carry out house chores and spend a few minutes with my family as I prepare for work. I then take a motorbike, otherwise locally known as a Boda Boda, to work. Boda Bodas are the most convenient means of transport here as they can travel on the narrow paths that ordinary four-wheeled vehicles wouldn’t fit.”
As a Business Development Associate, Susan provides training and motivational speeches that vary each weekday. She also joins agents on Saturdays for “market storming,” where the agents visit local markets, fanning out to meet potential customers and educating community members on the benefits of solar lamps and cookstoves.
Susan’s strength lies in her community mobilization skills, amplified by her connections to church and widows’ groups. She advocates for the adoption of clean, affordable energy, explaining how it can positively impact both the environment and household finances. Susan’s initiatives also encourage cooperation among the groups, with an example being a collective effort to purchase clean cookstoves for members’ homes.
“I encourage the groups to work together through initiatives like table banking, where the members collect a specific amount each month. This money is used to buy each member a stove on a ‘merry-go-round basis.’”
Only four months into her role at Solar Sister, Susan witnessed a group buy 270 clean cookstoves. These purchases have a ripple effect as the group members share their positive experiences with others.
“It is essential to target communities even further into the interior areas in Kenya. There are places still unexplored with clean energy.”
Susan travels extensively, away from Kisumu, visiting remote communities and influential individuals who can link her to potential end-users. One memorable outreach took place on International Widows Day, where she connected with widows in Bondi, nearly 100 km away from Kisumu.
As a widow herself, Susan can relate.
“I realized that the widows of today are a little more assertive as they take care of their families, solely without necessarily relying on relatives to support their orphaned children like used to be the case in the past. Today’s widows encourage one another. I am here to encourage them in their support of one another and join programs such as the Solar Sister Kenya entrepreneurship program, where they can empower themselves financially.
Widows are the sole decision-makers, and they do this efficiently, on the spot, thus making it easier to work with as they do not have to consult with partners.”
Susan is keen on realizing Solar Sister’s vision of changing lives through clean energy, emphasizing the solution it provides for rural women.
“Women, especially in the rural areas, suffer a lot during the rainy season as they cannot cook with firewood inside their already very small houses. They cook outside their doors, and preparing meals for their families becomes a big challenge, especially during the rainy season. The other charcoal stove is also unclean and unhealthy, so we offer them a one-stop solution in lightning and clean cooking stoves.”
Reporting by Roselinder Achieng Maima, Communications Officer, Solar Sister, Kenya.