The Options for Life Ecolign Business Model for developing markets lowers the cost of consumer products, creates income opportunities and protects the environment all at once.

Click here to view the 4-minute Ecolign Business Model PowerPoint presentation.

An Ecolign bottling plant, a mobile Ecolign Refill Station, an Ecolign boutique … it’s all in Second Life, the online virtual world. Ecolign Entrepreneurs with Internet access can sign up with Second Life for FREE. Once signed up, they get their own avatar and visit with Options for Life avatar Jasminia Jinn. Jasminia escorts the visitors on a tour of the Options Senegal Ecolign compound where they will augment their sales and marketing training online.

Pictured above from left to right are Mr. Valentin Faye, Ecolign Senegal Master Distributor, Mr. Brian Crooke of IBM, Mr. Levi Smylie from the US Embassy in Dakar, Ms. Bineta Mbodj, Options Senegal Program Director and Liz Critchfield of IBM.

Not pictured are Mr. Mamour Ba and Ms. Maeve Spence from CDC Development Solutions – the organization that brought IBM and Options for Life together. CDC Development Solutions (CDS) leverages public, private and volunteer resources to strengthen SMEs and the institutions, governments, and industries that drive economic growth in emerging markets. For over two decades, CDS, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, has provided innovative, market-driven solutions utilizing a variety of methodologies to create sustainable economic development in over 80 countries on 5 continents.

IBM News Release

In May 2012, US-based Options for Life appointed Senegal Ecolign Services (SES) as the distributor of the Ecolign cleaning products line in Senegal. SES wholesales Ecolign products and provides training in product composition, application, marketing and sales to the hundreds of Senegalese women and young adults participating in the Options for Life young adult economic empowerment program.

December 17, 2012. On this day we reached 10,000 views to the Options Senegal Web site. Thanks to all who helped make this work program a success, including but not limited to: ChildFund International, ChildFund Senegal, the Thies-based ChildFund Federation, local Associations and Community Mobilizers, the Thies and New York-based Options for Life/Options Senegal program teams, and those who have invested in the work of Options for Life.

June 12, 2012. The ChildFund Senegal sponsored Federation in Thies ordered ninety-three (93) 10-litre bottles of Ecolign Floor Cleaner Concentrate to be distributed among eleven local schools. This order is part of a promotional plan designed to build awareness of the Ecolign product line prior to the entreprenuerial GIE young adult door-to-door, market and boutique sales of the product scheduled to begin in two weeks.

The five month delay resulted in about 40% of the original trainees dropping out of the program.  Loss of interest (or momentum) or concern about their ability to pay back the micro finance loan were the two main reasons for trainees dropping out. None had found alternative income generating opportunities. The lost trainees were replaced and those replacements trained.

The Options Senegal team also used the downtime to accomplish the following:

Develop and link six new program support resource websites to the main Options Senegal website:

1. Product Information
2. Marketing Materials
3. Mentor Support
4. On-going Training and Sales Support
5. New Products
6. Teen “Shout Out” Page

Establish the first Ecolign boutique (launch set for the first week of June 2012).
Complete development of locally oriented product labels, packaging and promotional materials.
Test Ecolign products in the commercial marketplace.
Hold focus groups and trial work sessions to learn more about the working habits of the program trainees.
Find ways to lower project administration costs.
Identify an alternative to MFI funding.

On May 11, 2012, Options Senegal, on behalf of the trainees, received the first round of IMCEC funding. As of that date, Options Senegal was in a position to commit to the production of product labels and promotional materials and began preparing product for distribution to the trainees.

Product Commercialization

Ecolign Entrepreneurs can sell Ecolign products from their homes. It’s profitable, environmentally responsible and a great value to the consumer.

Devinez ce qui vient de sortir de terre sur la Rue 13 au quartier Carrière à Thiès? Une boutique Ecolign, distinctive et difficile à rater. Faites-y un Arrêt si vous êtes dans le quartier. Apportez une bouteille de boisson de 500 ml et nous allons la recharger avec quelques onces de l’un des nombreux produits  de nettoyage et de désinfection non-toxiques en concentré. Ramenez votre bouteille à la maison, ajouter de l’eau et c’est prêt pour le  nettoyage.

http://african-rainbow.tumblr.com/

FR/EN. Faites la Connaissance de l’Avatar Jasminia Jinn

La dernière venue de l’équipe de formateurs d’Options Sénégal est, bon comment dirions-nous, pas une vraie personne. Mais ne lui dites rien. Dans son monde virtuel – la plate-forme de jeu sur Internet ‘Second Life’ – elle est la directrice du service des informations sur les produits Ecolign, les ventes et la promotion. Les membres des  GIE Ecolign (de vraies personnes) ayant accès à Internet peuvent communiquer par interface avec Jasminia (en temps réel) et lui poser des questions sur les produits Ecolign et le matériel promotionnel. Ils peuvent également faire un tour sur l’île Etopia, la base d’accueil d’Options Sénégal dans Second Life. L’île Etopia est pleine de concepts, modèles et projets de développement durable et de protection de l’environnement, y compris, bien sûr, le programme d’Options Sénégal.

Au fait, Jasminia Jinn a une page Facebook. Recherchez-la.

The newest member of the Options Senegal training team is, well how should we put this, not a real person? But don’t tell her that. In her virtual world — the Internet-based gaming platform Second Life — she’s the Ecolign product and sales promotion information manager. Ecolign GIE members (real people) with access to the Internet can interface with Jasminia (in real time) and ask her questions about Ecolign products and promotional materials. They can also get a tour of Etopia Island, the Options Senegal home base in Second Life.  Etopia Island is full of sustainable development and environmental stewardship concepts, models and projects — including, of course, the Options Senegal program. To learn more about the Options Senegal training program in Second Life, click on the “Ongoing Training Support” link in the Program Support Links box to the right.

By the way, Jasminia Jinn has a Facebook page. Look her up.

Le programme a été coordonné localement avec l’assistance de M. Cheikh Sow, Coordonnateur des Programmes de la Zone de Tivaouane, des directeurs des trois écoles et des mobilisateurs communautaires. Allons Recycler ! du nom du Programme d’Options Sénégal, a pour objectif, entre autres, de sensibiliser les populations sur l’importance de préserver notre environnement des déchets et des ordures.

De la propreté de la classe et de la maison à celle de la communauté, un des messages-clé était de mettre les ordures dans des poubelles  au lieu de les jeter par terre comme beaucoup le font. Les enfants ont été encouragés à porter ce message chez eux et de le transmettre à leurs parents.

Les acteurs de la zone de Tivaouane ne comptent pas s’arrêter en si bon chemin et prévoient de poursuivre leur programme de sensibilisation dans d’autres écoles.

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March, 2012. In the area of Tivaouane of the Federation Kajoor-Jankeen two Ecolign GIEs, And Liguey de Pire and Goorgoorlu de Cherif Lo, held eco-education programs for children in three schools: Keur Kebe Gallo, KA Fall and Salla Deurguene Keur.

The program was coordinated locally with the able assistance of Cheick Sow, the school principals and association community mobilizers. The Options Senegal/Ecolign eco-education program, called Let’s Recycle, raises awareness of the importance of keeping our environment free from garbage and trash. From classroom and home cleanliness to that of the community, one message was to throw garbage in trash baskets instead of dropping it on the ground as so  many people do. The children were encouraged to take the message home to their parents.

The And Liguey de Pire and  Goorgoorlu de Cherif Lo members will take the program to other schools in the Tivaouane area.

Pierre Mbar Diouf of GIE And Defar Thiadiaye

FR/EN. Félicitations au GIE And Defar Thiadiaye pour avoir gagné le Premier Prix pour la collecte de bouteilles en plastique dans le cadre du programme Recyclage de Bouteilles d’Ecolign. Ils ont collecté 1.283 bouteilles en trois semaines et les ont amenées au siège d’Options Senegal à Thiès le Mercred 21 mars 2012.

Pour qu’il n’y ait pas de perdant, Options Senegal va dorénavant  acheter les bouteilles réutilisables qu’auront collectées les GIE à raison de quinze (15) francs CFA par bouteilles (ce qui est présentement le prix prévalant sur le marché).

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Congratulations to GIE And Defar Thiadiaye for winning First Prize in the Ecolign Bottle Recycling collection contest. They collected 1,283 bottles over the three-week collection period and brought them to Options Senegal headquarters in Thies on Wednesday March 21, 2012.

There are no losers, however.  Options Senegal will purchase all of the usable bottles from all of the other Ecolign Entrepreneurs for 15 FCFA per bottle (which is the going rate for recycled bottle collection).

Informations sur les produits

El Hadji Alioune Diouf

18FEB2012. El Hadji Alioune Diouf, Directeur, Direction du Commerce Interieur, Ministere du Commerce of Senegal pays an informal visit to Options Senegal — here inspecting a section of the newly installed Ecolign bottling line.

1. First and foremost, we want to say that ChildFund Senegal and the Federations have been most cooperative with Options Senegal. For example:

1 a. After each training, the Options Senegal trainers and the Options Senegal managers discussed and agreed upon changes that could be made to the program and the organization of trainees that would improve the training program impact overall. Federation managers – in every case – were very responsive and accommodating, which in some cases meant changing training locations and days with only a day or two notice.

1 b. Federation managers always made sure that a Federation or Association person was available to translate French or Wolof to English for the English-only speaking OS persons.

1 c. We would also specifically like to thank Agbessi Constant Tchona of ChildFund  Senegal, Sergine Saliou Valentin Faye and Alioune Sarr of the Kajoor-Janken Federation, and Daouda Thiaw of the Fel Yook Federation for always being available to us by phone or in person – day and night – to help us with any and all issues.

2. Options Senegal has requested a meeting with ChildFund Senegal, Federation and IMCEC (the micro lending bank) representatives on Monday, January 30, 2012 in order to review together the progress, findings and recommended next steps of the work program.

II. THE TRAINEES

1. Almost without exception, the trainees invited to participate in the work program were of very fine caliber and attitude. All, without exception, were well groomed and always respectful of the trainers. As with any large group of people, leaders have surfaced and we made careful note of who those people are.

2. The trainees were already organized in groups of 10 to 15 people based on the Associations by whom they were recruited.

3. The preliminary training of the first group of 300 program participants has been completed. Each participant was asked to fill out a questionnaire that provided us with personal, demographic and socio-economic information about the population. Some of that information has been posted on the Options Senegal website.

4. It is understood by all parties that the trainees will need on-going training and supervision, especially during the first few months of their respective business operations. Options Senegal is prepared to provide that support.

5. In the process of preliminary training we discovered that some trainees did not understand what they were going to be trained for when invited to participate. For example, a few do not want to be in the selling of non-toxic cleaning product business. Some trainees already have jobs. Some trainees (particularly those with new babies) are not able to work part-time or full-time. We caught this problem early in the training program and created a letter of understanding that each person signs at the time they are recruited. Now that all parties have a much better understanding of the Options Senegal training program and business model, the Federations should be better able to communicate the nature of the program to future prospective trainees and program participants. Options Senegal will work with Federation representatives to prepare an “Options Senegal Program Introduction and Invitation” flyer for future use.

III. THE TRAINING CURRICULUM

1. A copy of the updated ECOLIGN TRAINING PROGRAM Module I has been posted on the Options Senegal website. As has been mentioned, improvements to the original syllabus were made after each training session. The objective of the final PowerPoint of the training program is that anyone should be able read it [or deliver it] to understand the basics of the EcoLign business sales model. Trainer time is best spent working with trainees on practical classroom exercises and in-field experience.

2. Options Senegal requested and received a copy of the Life Skills and Financial Management courses given trainees by the Federation trainers. With the next round of training, we will want to see more synergy between the Federation training and the Options Senegal training.

IV. TRAINING PROGRAM LOGISTICS

1. Since the trainees will eventually work together in teams or GIE groups, we recommend that future GIE member groups not be split up for training. It is better to only train five GIEs at 10 members each, than 10 GIEs with only half the membership present at each training.

2. If four days of training is allotted for each group and Friday afternoon is a particularly important religious observance time, we recommend that the Federation training be conducted on Monday and Tuesday of each week and the Options Senegal training be conducted on Wednesday and Thursday of each week. This leaves Friday morning, if necessary, for Options Senegal trainers to meet with trainees wishing or needing special attention.

3. Options Senegal, ChildFund Senegal and the Federations all agree that a representative of IMCEC should make a one-hour presentation to each trainee group in future trainings.

V. TRAINEE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

1. ChildFund Senegal and IMCEC have come to an agreement whereby IMCEC will loan each GIE member involved in the Ecolign business program 50,000 F CFA.

2. Said money will not be paid directly to individual GIE members but will be paid directly to Options Senegal. Options Senegal will apply this money to the purchase of Ecolign product by GIEs/GIE members for resale and for sales promotion materials.

3. All trainees at this point understand that each member of the GIE is responsible for paying back their 50,000 F CFA IMCEC loan. Furthermore, all GIE group members also understand that the GIE business entity itself is also responsible for paying back the total Group loan amount should any member(s) default. Ultimately, of course, this means that each member of the Group is responsible for other member loan repayments should any other member(s) default.

4. Benchmarks/measurements of program success will be:

• number of program participants
• retention rate of participants
• growth in the number of participants
• average income per participant
• GIE/member loan repayment rate and timeliness
• growth of Ecolign market share

5. Options Senegal is as concerned about the ability of GIE/members to pay back their loans as ChildFund and IMCEC are. Therefore, for the comfort level of all parties, GIEs members have been asked to do some pre-selling to confirm that there is an interest or market for EcoLign products in their respective territories. In this regard, several GIEs have indicated that they have already lined up several commercial entities interested in sampling Ecolign products.

VI. OTHER PROGRESS

Options Senegal has:

1. Formerly incorporated as a Senegalese SUARL business.

2. Leased and is retrofitting a space in Thiès to locate its bottling equipment, operating headquarters and living quarters for trainers and project managers.

3. Identified local bottle, package label and promotional printing suppliers.

4. Briefed ChildFund International Regional Director for West Africa, Ousman Cham (in person) on project progress and discussed critical success factors.

VII. NEXT STEPS

1. All parties have agreed that each GIE will be formally incorporated as independent Ecolign product bottlers (in some cases) and distributors (in all cases). Options Senegal has been in touch with APIX and has been advised that it will cost 80.000F CFA for each group to incorporate as an Economic Interest Group. Options Senegal has recommended that this fee be ducted from the GIE member loan money pool.

2. Options Senegal is developing final pre-sales flyers and price lists, packaging labels and sales promotional materials based on local competitive research and trainee and partner feedback to draft text and designs circulated in the last two weeks.

3. The Options Senegal team and GIEs will focus on new business/sales generation.

END OF REPORT

As was the case in Dakar, this facility will double as office and apartment space for the Options Senegal project management team. As we get settled, more interior photos will follow.

We are grateful to Mr. Valentin Faye for finding us the location and negotiating an affordable rent .

Market Posters

Please take a moment and pick the poster you think is best for use by Ecolign sales reps in the market place.

Keep in mind three things:
1. EcoLign is a new product.
2. A poster can’t say everything; the sales rep will be there (by the poster) to answer questions and fill in the gaps, so to speak.
3. Generally, people are somewhat familiar with the term “ecologique” and believe it has something to do with the environment and/or safety.

For those of you who do not read French or Wolof, here is the gist of each poster:

The first poster, Sakkanna, reads:

New Ecological Cleaning Product for the Home.
Economical and affordable.
Bring your recycled 1 litre [soda or juice] bottle and we’ll refill it with product. [The sales rep will explain that in this way the consumer only has to pay a few hundred francs -- about $.40 --  for the concentrate to which he/she adds water versus almost $2.00 or more for the ready-to-use product in an original/new Ecolign bottle.]
Available here.
Manufactured in the United States, bottled in Senegal.

The second poster with the picture of the woman and child reads:

New Ecological Cleaning Product.
EcoLign, for the health of your home and your family.
Available here.
Bring your recycled 1 litre [soda or juice] bottle and we’ll refill it with product.
Manufactured in the United States, bottled in Senegal.

The third poster makes the point that laundry detergents do not clean floors, furniture, windows, toilets and kitchen surfaces as well as specific cleaning products designed for these applications. [Many consumers in Senegal use concentrated laundry detergent powder sold in 60ml foil packets to wash/clean everything.]

It boils down to which benefit you think is most important to the prospective customer:

1. Affordability (first poster)
2. Health and Safety (second poster)
3. Performance (third poster)

If none of the posters work for you, feel free to recommend another strategic or creative approach.