Vous l'aurez compris, nous n'avons pas gagné la GSVC mais l'expérience aura valu le déplacement, ne serait-ce que nous offrir l'opportunité d'aller à San Francisco, berceau de l'entrepreneuriat mondial, et d'y découvrir de nos yeux sa baie, ses ponts, ses magasins bio, ses bitniks, ses rues (très) pentues... et finalement, d'aller nous frotter à un contexte anglo-saxon bien différent de celui dont nous avons l'habitude.

Nous y avons présenté en 10 minutes le projet Station Energy®, un concept de kiosk solaire optimisé afin d'accroitre sa profitabilité et sa capacité à essaimer. Malheureusement, le projet n'a pas sur convaincre le jury, qui a préféré remettre le prix de 25 000$ à une plateforme peer-to-peer pour soutenir des étudiants dépressifs de Ivy League... Très américain en somme, même si nous comprenons bien l'intérêt de ce genre de site internet !

Pour ceux que cela intéresse, vous trouverez ci-dessous une partie de l'executive summary qui était dans le business plan que nous avons remis à l'organisation du concours : il devrait vous permettre de mieux comprendre le concept des franchises Station Energy.

Executive Summary

In Africa, almost 600 million people have no access to electricity, thus spending billions in bad quality energy services. How paradoxical for a continent that receives a huge quantity of free energy from the most generous provider: the sun! For most Africans, energetic systems are expensive to install and to use. Often, their quality is bad and their life span is short, making the initial investment risky. Moreover, most people do not have access to those specific goods needed to transform “raw” energy into utilities. At the end of the day, most African people do not even have access to reliable, abundant and clean light with the existing products and services. A terrible question arises: will Africa ever rise up out of energy poverty?

Station Energy Services (SES) is a social business that develops energy-access solutions for remote Sub-Saharan areas. Among them is the Station Energy®, a concept inspired by petrol stations and African grocery shops. Thanks to its solar panels, a Station Energy is a multi-service store in a village center selling diversified servicesadapted to most energy needs of the population.

Station Energy Services envisions that access for all to reliable, affordable and environmentally sound energy services is fundamental for social progress. The Station Energy alleviates poverty as defined by Nobel winner Amartya Sen: it expands freedom of choice and action of the populations on a lastingbasis. In particular, a Station Energy can provide reliable, affordable and abundant light to the poorest, enabling them to engage a virtuous circle out of extreme poverty.

The issue at stake is as enormous as the potential market: in Africa, 85% of rural households spend often over $15 per month on expensive sources. This is an annual 10-billion-dollar market. A basic Station Energy is viable providing services to 2,000 beneficiaries. Hence 20,000 Station Energy stores are expected to be operational by 2030 for a cumulative turnover of approximately 2 billion dollars.

The UN has declared2012 ‘the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All’, recognizing that:

“Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, increased social equity, and an environment that allows the world to thrive.”
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, January 2012

 With all due respect, Station Energy Services do not agree with this statement strictly speaking. Whichever form it takes, energy has always been abundant in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, 50% of its population lives below theextreme poverty level. The fact is that poverty alleviation is not about energy for all, it is about everybody having access to sustainable energy services.

Conscious of that, SES upgraded the existing ‘Solar Kiosk’ concept through a co-creation phase with all its stakeholders. It enabled the Station Energy to aggregate numerous but simple innovations. Station Energy is now a disruptive model of energetic services distribution that:

• is installed and maintained by the local employees of the SES national branch;
• relies on supply industries optimized through a Life Cycle Assessment tool;
• is easily managed by a local entrepreneur with limited technical knowledge;
• provides diversified and adapted services to all economic layers of the population;
• aims at being an economic center at the core of the village;
• is sold turn-key with a franchise contract to all investors including diasporas;
• provides SES with a cheap distribution network at the end of the day.

For $80,000, a Station Energy is up and running in 4 months, providing services to 2,000 clients. Economically, it relies on already-existing expenditures, making it profitable within 2 years and paid off within 4 years. Its Social Return on Investment (SRoI) is superior to 8.

In fact, the venture is currently launching its pilot project in the village of Mdjoyedzi located on the main island of the Comoros Union. The pilot will be operational in mid July and will serve as the showcase of our concept. Once its viability proven, a sound communication campaign will start to attract investors and enable rapid deployment in the country. Its objective is a trademark automatically associated to energy services in rural Africa.

After a couple of years, Station Energy Services will manage a deployment by clusters of countries. The clusters will show similar characteristics considered as strategic for the company, including reduced electricity-connection, access to the ocean, strong Diasporas, controlled exchange-rate risks, sound political governance, limited superficies and existing infrastructures.

With over 500 stations expected to be operational by 2017, Station Energy Services will create a distribution network of Station Energy® franchises selling low-impact goods and services to 1 million Africans in rural areas.