Managing the Success of “The SunnyMoney Way”

SunnyMoney is a social enterprise that was spun off from the NGO, Solar Aid, in 2011. While Solar Aid focuses on installing solar systems into schools across several countries in Africa, SunnyMoney focuses on selling solar lanterns. In just a few years since its launch, SunnyMoney is already reaching sales levels of tens of thousands each month, growing very quickly in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. The company employs a unique sales and marketing approach called “The SunnyMoney Way,” which works closely with education authorities, incentivizing head teachers in geographically defined regions to promote the benefits of solar lanterns to their students and families. Orders are then collected and the lights delivered in follow-up sales visits by SunnyMoney team members, during which thousands of lights can be sold in a single event.

SunnyMoney’s Managing Director, John Keane, talks to us about the excitement and hard work of the transformation of SunnyMoney from an NGO program into a social enterprise, and now the daily challenge of supporting its growing success.

Continue Reading