Retailing solar-powered lamps to homes

Jonathan

Chipata, Zambia

100% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Jonathan

Member since

March 2015

On-time repayments

242 installments  •  67%

About Me

Am a Zambian, born and raised. Since my childhood I have always had an interest in technology and the environment. I took technical subjects during my high school years. I later went on to study computer studies and graduated.

My core values are to live at peace with all, do the best I can for the greater good and to take care of nature. Am pro green habits as I believe when we take care of our environment, nature will take care of us.

In my free time, I take on to play musical keyboard and I enjoy cycling. I also enjoy taking time out to see family/friends over the weekend.

My Business

My business is in Waste Management, has been a new venture away from what I studied in school more focused on information technology. I have worked with NGOs that focused on the well-being of target groups and finding better ways to improve their lives.

While working with these NGOs, I developed an interest in Bio-digesters technology and waste management. I joined a friend of mine who was already in the business of providing waste management service. We partnered, and now I managed to secure a contract with the local authority to service a community by providing them with waste management services.

We currently collect garbage from over 100 households and are looking to expand our outreach but are limited to vehicle logistics. We now hire and use one truck that makes three trips weekly as the area we collect from is wide. Most of our expenses are towards the hiring of the truck, we plan to buy a truck as the business grows.

I mentioned biodigester, this is the future product/service we plan to provide to the communities. We see biodigesters as a solution to help reduce throwing away of bio waste that can be put to good use of providing fuel to cook and lighting.

My dream is that the business will grow into a green solution provider.

Loan Proposal

This loan will help me purchase stand alone solar unit systems from a local supplier within the country. They local supplier has a "Reseller program" that requires its agents subscribe with a fee for starting off with one unit and thereafter being eligible to purchase more units at wholesale price.

This loan will enable me purchase the units and resell. The products are of high quality and the communities have responded positively to these products. The Solar Home Kit comes with one panel,two lamps, a radio and a study lamp.

The business is profitable, and with more products going out with time, I will be able to grow and build a team. My goal is to have branches of sells hubs in the rural areas.

Your support is much appreciated.

Feedback

5

None

None

  • Jan    Feb 10, 2020

    This pitch was one of my first loans with Zidisha. I hope you have succeeded in helping people with their solar projects.
    I would like to lend you some money again.

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$91.00

Date disbursed

Mar 3, 2016

Repayment status

On Time

Projected term

2 months

Lenders

TomF925

www.AfricaLeap.com, United States

Laparo

Dusseldorf, Germany

M

mbarbier

United States

roark22

Geneva, Switzerland

MW

Mark Walmsley

Canberra, Australia

Ask Jonathan a question about this project, share news and photos of your own, or send a simple note of thanks or inspiration.

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  • Jonathan    Jul 26, 2022

    Thank you all my lenders for your support, your support will go a long way in improving our service in waste management. I look forward to keeping you updated with the growth of the business and each mile stone reached.

    Much appreciated
    Jonathan

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  • Humphrey    Jul 25, 2022

    May you prosper in your work

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  • Odhiambo    Jul 25, 2022

    Wishing you well

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    • Jonathan    Jul 25, 2022

      Thank you, much appreciated!!!

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  • Slyviar    Jul 22, 2022

    All the best in your project

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  • Jonathan    Jul 18, 2022

    I would like to thank all my lenders for your support, the funds did help me purchase and supply the solar lanterns that my clients had ordered for from the rural areas. I had managed to travel to the rural area and install the lanterns. My clients were happy and pleased with the service. This was all possible to you my lenders.

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  • Jonathan    Sep 17, 2020

    Business slowly resuming,

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  • Jonathan    Aug 14, 2020

    Payments from my clients have been a bit slow, though they have assured me of paying up.

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  • Chiozya    Aug 10, 2020

    Dear Lenders,

    I spoke with Jonathan and he explained that his business has been affected by the Covid-19 crisis. He has further explained that he plans to make a payment soon. Thank you.

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  • Jonathan    Jul 19, 2020

    I have had a slight delay of payments from my clients

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  • Jonathan    Jun 11, 2020

    Business has been slower than usual. I will manage k100 a week for now, but if i get a huge order, i will re-adjust to make a bigger repayment on my load

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  • Jonathan    Apr 26, 2020

    Business has almost come to a stand still due to this Coronavirus pandemic.

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  • Jonathan    Apr 5, 2020

    Business has slowed down due to Covid-19, people are not moving around town frequently

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  • Jonathan    Mar 15, 2020

    Delayed payments from my clients

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  • Jonathan    Feb 20, 2020

    Greetings my lenders,

    Am pleased to mention that i have received the loan. I will update soon the photos of the inventory i will purchase. I thank you and looking forward to further growing the business.

    Kind regards
    Jonathan

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  • Jonathan    Feb 13, 2020

    Thank you my lenders for your support.Am excited that I will now be able to register with a local solar home unit distributor and be able to purchase solar home units at agent fees, hence increasing my stock and also be able to purchase a solar home unit repair kit.

    I really appreciate your support, i will keep you updated with my progress.

    Kind regards
    Jonathan

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  • Jonathan    Feb 13, 2020

    The previous loan helped me clearly identify what products to sell to my clients and also enabled me develop necessary skill in maintaining the solar devices. Now am looking to include power inverters to products I will be selling to my clients. There has been an increase in load shedding across the country the demand for alternative energy is still on a high.

    Thank you my lenders for helping me attain my goal which am still working towards.

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  • Jonathan    Jan 8, 2020

    I would like to clear my balance soon.

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  • TomF925    Nov 18, 2019

    I hope you are ok and will resume payments soon. I encourage you to quickly restart payments, or contact Zidisha right away and change (lower or delay) payments. That way, you can maintain a higher ranking, which you deserve. You have many good ideas, but if your credit ranking falls too much, it will be hard to pursue your worthy ideas.

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  • TomF925    Jan 30, 2019

    I hope you and Jayomitech.com are well and will soon resume repayments.

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    • Jonathan    Feb 10, 2019

      Hi Tom,

      Business was a bit slow, but is picking up now and will resume my repayments and clear the loan quicker soon.

      Thank you for checking up on me.

      Tom, i was wondering, is there a way of making biodegradable shopping paper bags safely and in bulk? I have been doing some research on the some, but can't seem to come across reliable source of information on procedure.

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      • Liz    Feb 15, 2019

        Some people will make shopping bags from used grain sacks and other natural materials. But it's hard to make them in bulk as the sewing takes a long time.

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        • Jonathan    Feb 17, 2019

          I see, thank you for that insight Liz. My friends and I are looking for ways to encourage the use of biodegradable paper bags and later also find affordable ways of making Biodigesters to produce biogas for cooking purposes.

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      • TomF925    Feb 18, 2019

        Glad to see you are catching up with payments. With regard to shopping bags, the best (imho) is cloth or net bag that the customer brings themselves and uses over and over. Even heavy plastic is good if it is used many many times and finally properly recycled. I believe paper can go to biodegradable, or green waste to be turned into compost for garden fertilizer. I suppose there are machines for cutting, folding and gluing paper together to make bags. The ones in the US are probably expensive, complicated and make tons of bags quickly.
        btw, what do think of the various types of solar cookers: evacuated tube, box, panel, parabolic? Best wishes.

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        • Jonathan    Feb 20, 2019

          Thank you for the information. Solar cookers would be a good project as fuel for from the sun is in abundance. I will do more research on solar cookers. Many thanks

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          • Treesforpeople    Feb 21, 2019

            I am sorry - I have just noticed that you asked me a long time ago to send your details to my friend Clement Musonda who makes solar cookers in Lusaka. I did not get your message. His email address is: [email protected] If you contact him, you can mention my name (Zoe). I am sending him your email address now.

            Here is a link to an introduction to solar cooking: solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki...

            There are still very few people who know how to cook with the sun, but it is an amazing technique. You can even cook using aluminium foil, cardboard and a plastic bag, if you know how! The sun is so powerful - you only need to learn how to concentrate the heat. Cardboard panel cookers are the cheapest, and there are quite a lot of people using them in Kenya. I hope one day lots of people may use them in Zambia too.

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            • TomF925    Feb 22, 2019

              Thank you, Zoe, for these very helpful resources on solar cooking! I encourage everyone to have a look!

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            • Jonathan    Feb 24, 2019

              Hello Tom, thank you for the information. Clement contacted me and we talking, am hoping to meet up with him and discuss further on how his experience with solar cookers has been on the Zambian market.

              Many thanks

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