November 18 to November 28. The local Options Senegal management team (Malick, Ibou and Kiné) and visiting Options for Life international business development managers (Walter Coddington and Jaryd Kase) accomplished the following:
Partnership. On November 17, 2011 representatives of ChildFund Senegal and Options Senegal signed a partnership agreement whereby ChildFund Senegal would identify and provide life skills training to local women and young adults and Options Senegal would provide job/skill training in the bottling, marketing, sales and distribution of non-toxic cleaning products.
General and Administration. The Dakar-based management team of Options Senegal had previously identified quarters in the Cambérène neighborhood of Dakar that would serve as Options Senegal office space and temporary living rooms for the visiting Options for Life development managers. On November 20, 2011 the management team moved in, improvised furniture and had Broadband Internet service installed.
Product Development. Prior to Options for Life (OFL) landing in Senegal, local market research was conducted by prospective Options Senegal Mini-plant managers [as part of their qualification]. Existing products, pricing and consumer behavior related to product use were examined. Once Options for Life development managers arrived, they oversaw the field-testing of the Options Ecolign product line over the period November 23 – 27. Both OFL managers and the local test householders were very pleased with the performance – all believing that there would be a strong market for the product line.
Training the Trainers. [Please see our “Training the Trainers” post.]
Product Sales and Distribution. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the past ten days has to do with how the Ecolign products might be distributed/sold by Options Senegal salespeople. As one of now several distribution options, Jaryd Kase surfaced the idea of Options salespeople selling 15-gallon drums of ready-to-use product(s) to bodega owners. In most areas of any town, you’ll find a small bodega on almost every other block. Local people shop at the bodegas on a daily basis, partly because locals have very little storage space in their homes and partly because they have little or no refrigeration. Buying food and other supplies in bulk at stores larger than bodegas is generally unaffordable for the poor and middle class of Senegal. Jaryd noticed that cooking oil is commonly sold two ways in bodegas. One can buy a bottle of oil or one can bring in their own bottle and have it filled – as little as 125 ml or as much as a liter. EcoLign liquid concentrates can be sold in much the same way either in concentrated or on ready-to-use form. There are enough bodegas that each person we train as a sales person could be assigned one or two bodegas to service. In their bodega servicing down time, salespeople can promote and demonstrate the products door-to-door or to local civic or social groups.
