Kamworks

Kamworks is a solar energy company aimed at making innovative products for off-grid populations in Cambodia and beyond. Kamworks has developed an award-winning solar light, the MoonLight, as well as several other products. By setting up assembly in country, Kamworks aims at technology transfer and better service.

Energy Products/Services

• Moonlight Solar Portable
• Solar Home Systems
• Professional Systems

Target Market

• In Cambodia, there are approximately 10 million people without access to the grid, spending an estimated $170M per year on fossil fuels for light, phone and TV.
• Globally, there are approximately 1.4 billion people without access to grid electricity.

Impact to Date

• 15,000 off-grid people receiving modern energy services
• 20 permanent rural clean energy jobs created
• 9 solar lantern rental entrepreneurs active

Product Sourcing & Design

• Kamworks assembles all its products in Cambodia specifically because it wants to build local manufacturing and repair capacity.  This is in reaction to the number of donor-financed solar projects which have fallen apart due to lack of local capacity to repair products.
• This approach does make Kamworks’ products about 20% more expensive than those manufactured in China.
• Kamworks also designs its own products with participation from customers, incorporating suggested design features.
  • The Moonlight does not have its solar cell integrated with the light.  It is detachable so that customers can leave the panel outside to charge while they go to the fields, and leave the light locked safely in their houses.
  • The Moonlight is also rainwater proof, since in Cambodia, many people want to use their lamps for fishing and frog catching.
  • Kamworks’ solar panels and batteries come from China and their charge controllers from abroad.  Kamworks makes the plastic battery boxes themselves.

Distribution

• Kamworks is still experimenting with a number of distribution models.
• Close to their headquarters, they have their own installers and salespeople.
• Farther away they do marketing through microfinance banks which  display the products in their offices.
• Kamworks has a contact person that the MFI then contacts when a customer is interested.
• Kamworks is also piloting a rental scheme, but only in a small number of places.  They are trying to find the right model and thus far it is still cash intensive.
• Kamworks has thus far partnered with 1 MFI and have just expanded to 5 provinces, with 20 offices.
• Kamworks offers a 1 year warranty.  For nearby customers, they send their own technician. Farther away they train independent technicians.

Revenue & Affordability

• Customers buy Moonlight lanterns for cash, but the solar home systems are generally financed by MFIs.
• Kamworks also prefinances 20-30 microentrepreneurs who rent out lamps. Generally each has 40 lamps, and do not pay any upfront fees.
• These entrepreneurs are recruited from the communities in which they work, which helps them know who needs lights and who pays their bills on time.  They are generally chosen through the local authorities or the village chief.  The dropout rate is 50%.
• Kamworks recruits entrepreneurs through a 1 day training.  Entrepreneurs are expected to make a list of customers and take 1-2 lights as a demo.  When they come back they are provided with the 40 Moonlights.
• Entrepreneurs pay half their profit to Kamworks.
• Because they are rented, the lanterns do get beat up, but they are generally easy to repair.

Financing

• Kamworks is mostly financed with grant money.
• While commercial activities are paid for by customers, grant funding is used for projects.
• Kamworks is currently able to sell solar lanterns to medium poor people, but to scale up, they will require investment money, which would be specifically used as working capital for the Moonlight rental business, as a separate business unit.
• Kamworks initially tried to sell the lanterns to their entrepreneurs with financing over time, (essentially turning the rental scheme into a rent-to-own scheme), but entrepreneurs were not comfortable with the idea of being in debt and preferred to just rent the lanterns out and split profit with Kamworks.

Scaling

• Kamworks is running a pilot to scale their rental scheme to 3,000 lanterns.
• They are also developing a new Moonlight with a phone charger built in.

Government & Donor Relations

• Kamworks is currently implementing a World Bank contract to install 12,000 solar home systems.
• They had initially fought the contract because they did not agree with the approach, since the project will double the number of solar home systems in Cambodia at subsidized rates, and therefore adversely affect the market.
• However, in the end they bid on and won the contract because they thought it was better to at least ensure it was done well.

Social Impact

• Kamworks measures their impact primarily based on the number of systems sold and the number of active village entrepreneurs.

Description:
20, 40, and 80W solar home systems, which include varying numbers of lights and can power increasingly powerful TVs and lights, generally for 4 hours per night.  Kamworks also offers a system with an AC plug for appliances.  All systems come with a tall fiberglass pole to hang the panel on.How It’s Used:20, 40, 80W systems: Evening lighting, TV, mobile phone charger, radio, small nightlight

80W AC inverter system: table fans, color TVs

Product Type:

Solar Home System

Technical Data

Cost Data