More from: Haiti

Arc Finance, Its Friends and Partners Mobilize to Support Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico

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The Arc Finance team, like so many others, was horrified at the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Maria, and has sought to contribute to the coordinated response by mobilizing several of its friends and partner organizations in the off-grid energy space to provide over 5,000 solar lighting products to Puerto Rico.

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To this end, Arc reached out to the Sierra Club, a US-based environmental protection organization, as well as various product manufacturers including d.light, MpowerD, Greenlight Planet and EKOTEK, to coordinate the logistics, including financing, sending and distribution, of solar lights to the capital San Juan.

EKOTEK, a Haitian energy company, and Sogexpress (a money transfer company based in Haiti), both Arc Finance partners, enthusiastically joined this initiative, immediately launching a ‘rapid response’ shipment of 4,300 high quality, durable solar lighting systems with strong luminosity and mobile charging capacities, that arrived in Puerto Rico in the middle of November. In addition, MpowerD and d.light sent 983 and 200 portable solar lighting products respectively.

The Sierra Club was integral to this initiative with its engaged donor base and extensive network. It has frequently assisted in the delivery and on-the-ground support to local communities in the aftermath of natural disasters, including those exacerbated by climate change. Arc’s key contribution was its sector-building network capacity, ensuring that all the key players were mobilized quickly and connected so as to achieve immediate impact.

Stephan Nasr, CEO of EKOTEK, said: “When we were contacted by Arc Finance and the Sierra Club, we saw we were in a position to help and we acted on it. We want to show that there are companies in Haiti and other developing markets that are evolving along with the technologies we offer. We want to show solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico, and to demonstrate too that companies like ours care about the positive impact that our products can have. We are right here next door and we are in a position to organize and help quickly.”

Niki Armacost, Arc’s Managing Director said she was grateful that Arc’s friends were willing to coordinate so quickly in an unusual reversal of typical relief support: “This is a remarkable response: two organizations from Haiti - the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere - mobilize to help citizens of one the richest countries on earth who are facing enormous hardships right now. Solar lighting products are a godsend for those who are without power. They make people feel safe, they help businesses re-start, they prevent dependence on dangerous and dirty alternatives, and even help doctors and nurses save lives.”

She added that Arc was grateful to its friends at the Sierra Club, EKOTEK, Sogexpress d.light and MpowerD who rallied together and were willing to step up to help those whose lives are in ruin after this disaster. Efforts are continuing with other donors, energy and water filtration companies who have pledged to provide yet more assistance. Niki expressed Arc’s hope that this response could set a precedent for partnership between energy companies and others to channel immediate help to those suffering as a result of natural disasters, especially those caused by climate change.

Arc Finance Hosts Workshop in Haiti on Renewable Energy Finance

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The Arc Finance team was in Haiti this week, to co-host a workshop entitled Scaling the Delivery of Clean Energy Through Diaspora Engagement and Agent Sales, which presented to a broad audience of stakeholders the components, business models, results and lessons from Arc’s work with Haiti Money Transfer Organization Sogexpress.

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Held at Hotel Karibe in the capital, the workshop was an opportunity to shine a light on Arc’s partnership with Sogexpress which features both a remittance financing model and an agent trade finance mechanism that address issues of energy poverty and affordability as well as distribution challenges.The workshop was opened by Arc’s Managing Director Niki Armacost, and the Executive Director of Sogexpress Dominique Policard, who described the four-year program’s evolution, made possible by technical assistance funded by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, and USAID, and implemented by Arc Finance. The initiative leverages both the US-Haiti remittance corridor through the creation of a dedicated online platform, www.KlereAyiti.com, that enables Haitians in the diaspora to send solar lights to relatives in Haiti, and also the Sogexpress distribution network in Haiti by selling products through their stores and the network of agents across the country. In fact, this initiative has piloted a consignment trade finance model enabling agents to sell solar lighting products within their local communities in Haiti.

In the second session, entitled Rationale, Core Components and Business Models, Niki walked the audience through the goals of the initiative, including:

  1. To allow Haitians in the diaspora to provide solar products to their families via KlereAyiti.com;
  2. To expand access to solar products in Haiti through the Sogexpress network of flagship stores and agents; and
  3. To provide Sogexpress agents with a new business opportunity through a consignment model that enables them to sell solar products.

Niki explained that the initiative provides market-based solutions to the energy crisis in Haiti, it promotes renewable energy for even some of the poorest Haitian households, it creates jobs in Haiti, both for Sogexpress staff and the network of agents, and it engages the diaspora. This new commercial business model has raised consumer awareness about clean energy in Haiti, as well as the resulting economic, health, and social benefits.

The remittance model, called ‘Klere Ayiti’ – “Light-up Haiti” in Creole – is a platform that responds to a unique context where only 28% of the population has access to electricity, and where remittances represent over 26% of GDP. To marry this supply and demand, the platform features a dedicated website that allows local customers and senders living abroad to order the solar light kit of their choice. Orders are fulfilled by Sogexpress in three to five working days.

The other main component of the initiative, the consignment finance model, involves a nation-wide agent network which assists in the important job of awareness-building, especially in terms of the financial benefits of switching to solar from traditional fuels.

In the third session, entitled Results, Arc’s Haiti project lead Yara Akkari and Dominique summarized the impact of the programs so far, including the sale of over 86,000 solar devices, benefitting more than 430,000 people, and the creation of thousands of jobs for solar entrepreneurs.

Finally, Niki summarized many of the lessons learned, recommendations and next steps for the initiative, and Sogexpress Executive Vice President Franck Lanoix closed the workshop with an enthusiastic assessment of the present and future of the initiative. “At Sogexpress we want to help all Haitians benefit from our natural resource – an abundance of sunlight. With these solar lights children can study at night, families will feel more safe and secure, businesses can stay open longer and people can charge their phones. Having a cleaner and more accessible alternative for electricity with the solar lights has the potential to transform the lives of millions of Haitians,” he said.

Sogexpress’ Consignment Model Innovates in Inventory Supplier Financing for Solar Street Agents in Haiti

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Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and has some of the lowest levels of electrification in the world. To address this massive shortfall in access to quality and reliable energy, Haitian Money Transfer company Sogexpress, has made a commitment to radically increase access to clean energy products.

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The vehicle Sogexpress has chosen to achieve this goal is through its agent network, especially its street agents. To test the initial viability of this approach Sogexpress introduced a pilot to encourage 340 of its 1,000 street agents to sell solar lanterns. Sales were strong, but the test demonstrated a need for a source of supplier credit to finance the inventory the agents planned to sell.

Market research conducted by Arc Finance in 2014 indicated that the consignment model was the best financial mechanism for this pilot: as it lowers risk for the agents and Sogexpress as compared to a more formal loan product. Sogexpress was not prepared to bear the risk of handing over large amounts of inventory without some sort of guarantee, and the agents were uncomfortable borrowing money to purchase inventory for new, unfamiliar products and carry the risk until those products were sold.

So Sogexpress, with the assistance of Arc Finance, the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), spent several months developing the consignment mechanisms, structure and policies. It also upgraded and adapted the Sogexpress IT and Management Information Systems to ensure they were fit for the purpose of tracking the credit and status of agents.

Towards the end of 2015, Sogexpress started implementation of its retail consignment program. The agents or shop retailers don’t have to purchase the products they sell. Instead, the company lends them its products on “consignment”, which allows Sogexpress to increase the working capital of its street retailers, diversify its portfolio, and expand its business and increase revenues.

A background check and selection process involving several steps mitigates the risk of lending. Firstly, Sogexpress’ démarcheurs (trusted senior agents) identify prospective street agents and recruit them. Next, store managers create and evaluate files on each potential agent. The store manager interviews selected candidates. The store manager registers the approved agents, and sends their files to the selection Committee. Once the Committee approves an agent’s application, the street agent signs a consent form. This form describes the agent’s commitment, duties and responsibilities in detail.

The new agent pays a 300 HTG (approximately US$5) deposit to a Sogexpress store manager to be enrolled in the consignment “Loyalty Program” and receives a special “loyalty card” as identification of membership. This program has various objectives, including: to track sales data and agents’ performance; to allow agents to accumulate loyalty points; and to track consignment portfolio quality, with an alert system in place to flag delinquencies or other problems.

After agents are registered, they are given a credit limit of 3,000 HTG (US$50), with which they can borrow energy products from the company (the value of approximately three solar products). Later, once the agent has demonstrated creditworthiness, he or she may receive a limit of up to 50,000 HTG (about US$900). Each new agent is given a kit that includes different models of solar lamps with a maximum value of 3,000 HTG (US$50), a branded backpack in which to carry the lamps, and flyers with descriptions of the products.

In order to support its new agents, Sogexpress provides marketing support through sound trucks and advertising. Training sessions based around product details and selling tactics further bolster the agents’ capacity to effectively engage with prospective customers.

As of August 31st 2016, Sogexpress has enrolled 561 agents in this program. In the summer of 2016, Sogexpress and Arc Finance conducted a first review of the pilot, collecting feedback and data to make the consignment process faster and easier. As the company moves forward, it is aiming to increase its efforts to retain active agents. Arc is helping Sogexpress to grow this program, and to reach its target of enrolling 1,000 agents by the end of the year – especially outside Port-au-Prince where the competition among energy companies is less intense. It is also in these rural areas where people are in the most need of reliable and safe lighting solutions, such as the solar lights for which this model is so well suited.

Dominique Policard, Executive Commercial Director at Sogexpress, foresees that:“This program has not only the advantage of facilitating access to clean energy but also of helping the street agents access financial services. Sogexpress is very proud of this new program and hopes to scale it in the future.”

Soge-EASY! Launch of Branchless Banking Product from Arc Partner Sogebank Can Help Bank Solar Energy Agents

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For thirty years, the Sogebank Group, the parent company of Arc partner Sogexpress the leading money transfer and payment services company in Haiti, has been innovating in the banking market. From being an early mover with ATMs in the 1980s, to mobile banking this decade, the company has led the Haitian banking sector in improving the customer experience.

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Yet, Haiti remains one of the most financially excluded markets in the hemisphere, with only 20 percent of Haitians having a bank account. To help address this, Sogebank has developed a new product called SogeIzi (pronounced Soge-EASY). SogeIzi is a savings model targeted at poor and rural Haitians. The target market includes street agents that sell solar lighting products on consignment with support made possible by technical assistance funded by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the IDB Group, and USAID, and provided by Arc Finance.

Recognizing that like many other Haitians, many of these agents are financially excluded, Sogebank is offering them the possibility to save their income as well as make payments using a debit card (Izicash card). They will be able to use a range of locations within the broad Sogebank Group network (not just the brick-and-mortar Sogebank branches), including Sogexpress stores and ATMs. The clients benefitting from this program, including potentially many of Sogexpress’ solar agents, will be able to access a basic bank account, enabling them to save, earn interest and conduct transactions all over the country, in rural or urban areas, irrespective of whether there is a Sogebank branch nearby.

Simplicity is a hallmark of the program. Sogexpress believes it is important to make it as easy as possible for financially excluded customers to make financial transactions while keeping operating costs low. Accounts can be opened in 10 minutes, using a single identification document and a low initial deposit (HTG 300, or US$5). Customers are provided with a starter kit of an Izicash debit card, explanatory documentation, a PIN, transaction registration, and free enrolment in the Sogemobile (mobile bank account access) and other Sogebanking programs.

SogeIzi is particularly valuable for the agents selling solar lighting products under the program Arc has implemented with Sogexpress. The initiative helps to bring them into the formal financial sector with the associated advantages. It works in tandem with the consignment finance model, which provides solar products on credit to the agent. The extended opening hours of Sogexpress stores (including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) compared to Sogebank branches is designed to accommodate the needs of clients such as agent entrepreneurs, as is the 24/7 access to their account and execution of transactions through ATMs, Sogebanking and Sogemobile.

As Dominique Policard, Executive Commercial Director at Sogexpress, describes it, this new product is timely, “enabling Sogexpress to take another step in supporting the network of sales agents to increase their livelihoods through financial access and by facilitating savings”. Policard says that the Sogebank Group wants to bring the financially excluded in Haiti into the financial sector, ensuring that even the very poor have access to basic and affordable financial services. This effort is particularly significant in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the hemisphere, with very low levels of financial access and literacy.

The agent consignment model launched by Sogexpress with the support of USAID, MIF/IDB and Arc Finance will benefit over 1,000 agents by the end of 2016. Hopefully many of these people will be able to benefit from the financial access and flexibility of this innovative new program. SogeIzi will be an important way to bring these entrepreneurs into the formal financial sector; enabling them to save, pay and transfer money safely, quickly and affordably as they build their businesses and bring quality clean energy to their customers.

Renewable Energy Microfinance and Microenterprise Program (REMMP) Benefits 1 Million People with Clean Energy!

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We are delighted to announce that as of April 30th 2016, Arc’s USAID-funded Renewable Energy Microfinance and Microenterprise Program (REMMP) has passed the milestone of 200,000 sales of energy products. That equates to over 1 million people benefiting from clean energy in five countries – India, Uganda, Haiti, Kenya and Nepal.

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The 200,000 customers – of which 67% are women – have received access to products such as solar lanterns, solar home systems (SHS) and efficient cookstoves under a range of consumer financing mechanisms which seek to bridge the affordability gap inherent in providing products like these to the poor. REMMP has also addressed distribution challenges posed by the “last mile” through promoting “supplier” financing mechanisms.

These financing mechanisms range from different microfinance loan models built and expanded under REMMP by Arc’s MFI partners, to asset finance offered by energy enterprises, remittances from migrants, and trade finance for agents conducting cash sales. Arc’s goal under REMMP remains to pilot, test, evaluate and scale different financing mechanisms for distributed renewable energy products (such as small-scale solar for off-grid households) and in doing so, pave the way for commercial scaling of this sector by demonstrating the viability of these models.

In order to facilitate sales, REMMP partners have disbursed over US$13 million in loans and over US$29 million in investment has been leveraged under the program. Over 37,000 tonnes CO2e has been displaced by the clean energy products sold and the equivalent of 2.1MW of solar capacity has been installed. A recent annual phone survey reveals 98% product satisfaction among clean energy customers, and 87% likelihood to recommend the product to friends or family.

After spending several years laying the groundwork through capacity building, partner and product evaluation, and all of the other critical steps to building local capacity – mostly from scratch – REMMP is seeing sales accelerating. In fact, the milestone of 100,000 clients reached was just passed in July 2015. REMMP expects even more rapid scaling in the coming months as the affordability gap for clean energy products continues to narrow through the hard work of our partner organizations.

Sogexpress’ Dominique Policard Appears on TV in the U.S. to Promote the Klere Ayiti Solar Remittance Program

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Dominique Policard, Executive Commercial Director at Arc’s partner Societe Generale Haitienne de Transferts S.A (or ‘Sogexpress’), appeared Tuesday April 14th in a Miami television interview. The program, Teleskopi, was hosted by Gepsie Metellus, and was broadcast on Island TV, a channel targeted at the Haitian diaspora community in the U.S. Dominique talked about the Klere Ayiti initiative (Haitian Creole for “Light up Haiti”) which is an online platform that allows diaspora members to remit solar products back to families in Haiti, using the existing remittance network and architecture of Sogexpress in Haiti, and the Quick PaySM payment service of Western Union.

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Dominique demonstrated four solar products on the remittance platform ranging in price from $55 to $180, described the options, price configurations and benefits of each, and explained the payment process. She described how a customer in the diaspora can place an order on www.klereayiti.com and then pay for the product at any participating Western Union using Quick PaySM services.

The focus of the interview was on the extensive benefits to customers in terms of education, health, security and livelihoods that have been tested and demonstrated over the course of Arc’s engagement with Sogexpress. The Klere Ayiti platform enables the Haitian diaspora to use remittances to finance renewable energy products for families and friends in Haiti, where a large majority of the population does not have access to electricity.

The platform features a dedicated website that allows diaspora-based customers to pre-order the solar light kit of their choice at www.klereayiti.com. They select the product and then use their order number to complete payment at participating Western Union Agent locations via the Western Union® Quick PaySM platform (present in over 174 countries around the world). Orders are fulfilled by Sogexpress in 3 to 5 working days.

All the products for sale have the capacity to recharge mobile phones, a highly desirable feature in Haiti, and were carefully selected by the Sogexpress team with the help of Arc Finance. All products come with a warranty by local distributors in Haiti.

The Klere Ayiti platform was launched in late July 2015 in Port-au-Prince and Miami. It was the culmination of many months of preparation and hard work by the Sogexpress and Western Union teams, and was made possible with support from the USAID-funded Renewable Energy Microfinance and Microenterprise Program (REMMP) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Here at Arc, we’re delighted to see this program reaching the Haitian community in the U.S., and look forward to working with all the partners to increase clean lighting access in Haiti.

Films on Utkarsh and Sogexpress Selected as Finalists at the Off-Grid Experts Awards 2015

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We are excited to announce that two videos featuring Arc Finance partners have been selected as among the top four finalists for the Off-Grid Experts Awards 2015 – organized by Phaesun and taking place in Memmingen, Germany September 25 to 26. Over the course of the Off-Grid Experts Workshop 2015, all top four films will be shown to workshop visitors, who will vote on the winner at the event. Both videos are finalists in the “Filmlet-Energy Independence” category.

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Arc Finance’s profile of microfinance institution Utkarsh’s solar lending program, “Utkarsh Brings Light to Uttar Pradesh, India,” was shot by our photographer and videographer Souradeep Ghosh, and was produced as part of our Renewable Energy Microfinance and Microenterprise Program (REMMP), which is funded by USAID. “Remittances and Solar Energy,” our profile of Haitian money transfer org Sogexpress’ remittance and energy program, is a result of a public-private partnership between Arc Finance, Sogexpress and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the filmlet was funded by the MIF/IDB. The video highlights the key innovation of using remittance corridors to finance clean energy products.

We are delighted for Utkarsh, Sogexpress and all the other entities involved in the production of these two informative, elegant and warm films, which show the impact that small-scale clean energy can have on people’s lives.

We congratulate all finalists in all categories, and send our thanks to our digital media team, our partners, and the talented Souradeep Ghosh for all their work in getting us this far!

Arc Finance and Sogexpress Launch KlereAyiti.com

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Arc Finance and Sogexpress launch KlereAyiti.com, a new platform for financing clean energy in Haiti through remittances.

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Arc’s partner the Societe Generale Haitienne de Transferts S.A (Sogexpress), a leading money transfer and payment service company in Haiti, and the Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, have launched a new platform called Klere Ayiti, Haitian Creole for “Light up Haiti.” This platform enables the Haitian diaspora to use remittances to finance renewable energy products for families and friends in Haiti, where a large majority of the population does not have access to electricity. This collaboration expands on a pilot implemented from 2012 to 2013 by Arc Finance with support from the Multilateral Investment Fund, a part of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (MIF/IDB).

The platform features a dedicated website that allows local customers and senders living abroad to pre-order the solar light kit of their choice at www.KlereAyiti.com. They then use their order number to complete payment at participating Western Union Agent locations around the world via the Western Union® Quick PaySM platform (present in over 174 countries around the world). Orders will be fulfilled by Sogexpress in 3-5 working days.

This platform was launched in late July 2015 in Port au Prince and Miami, the culmination of many months of preparation and hard work by the Sogexpress and Western Union. The process involved market research, product selection, website construction, adaptation and development of IT and web platforms, marketing and promotion. The platform will provide an enormous opportunity for innovation in using an established remittance corridor to finance renewable energy in the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

Only 28% of the Haitian population has access to grid electricity , and the 2010 earthquake was devastating in both human and economic capital. The country receives a considerable percentage of its GDP in remittances (over 20 percent of GDP ), with a huge diaspora population living in the US – about 420,000 Haitians live in the New York area alone. Thus, Haiti was an idea choice to test remittances as an end-user financing and distribution mechanism in the 2012-13 pilot phase, and the success of that program has led to its current expansion stage.

The results of the pilot phase were encouraging, and led to a joint venture between USAID and the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund to fund Phase III, which will, after months of careful review, provide the Sundaya T-Lite for purchase exclusively at Sogexpress e-commerce site at KlereAyiti.com. The T-Lite is a modular solar light kits, available as a kit with two or three lights, will be sold for US$140 and $180.

Both systems have the capacity to recharge mobile phones, a highly desirable feature in Haiti. Awango by Total, an initiative of the company Total to market affordable solar lamps in developing countries, is committed to bringing only the highest quality products to Sogexpress customers and backs this assurance with a two-year warranty. The selected systems have been sold in more than 16 countries, with total sales exceeding 600,000 units.

Already, training delivered by Sogexpress, Awango by Total, and Arc Finance in February 2015 has increased the capacity of Sogexpress sales staff to effectively market, sell, and service the Sundaya T-Lite products that will be sold through the remittance platform.

Staff from all 57 Sogexpress stores were trained on the Sundaya products to ensure the staff had optimum knowledge of the lamps’ features, use, and after-sales service, through ongoing training throughout the course of the program, recognizing the importance of client satisfaction in the success of this initiative.

This exciting new program will target 5,000 sales across the remittance platform, with marketing reaching 300,000 existing remittance senders in the Diaspora and 500,000 recipients in Haiti through an awareness-building campaign, which will use energy literacy and promotional programs to educate Haitians both at home and in the diaspora on the economic and social benefits of switching to clean energy products.