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ToughStuff

ToughStuff developed a modular set of products that address three main electricity needs of off-grid consumers – lighting, information, and connectivity – using a lightweight, robust, portable photo-voltaic solar system designed for personal use.


Value Proposition

  • ToughStuff’s product set includes a lamp, radio connectors and a mobile-phone charger, which can be used separately or together.
  • Designed for harsh conditions, these products are tough while remaining affordable to even very poor people.
  • By combining product design with innovations in distribution, which includes a micro-entrepreneurs Business-in-a-Box program, solar power is made available for the first time to people previously relying on polluting, archaic technology.
  • ToughStuff’s solutions help lift people out of poverty, create jobs, improve health, stimulate the economy, enhance education, enable connectivity, and protect the environment.

Distribution

  • ToughStuff’s main distribution channel is sale of product to national level distributors across Africa who sell in retail shop outlets like grocery stores.
  • Distributors need to have a clear link to the product, such as an existing involvement in energy (flashlights, lamps, batteries etc.).
  • This ‘low-touch’ model has allowed ToughStuff to reach more than 1,000 outlets in 3 years.
  • Each country has an office to support retailers, and ToughStuff signs exclusivity agreements with them.
  • In Madagascar ToughStuff has a pilot Business in a Box microfranchising program.

Solar Light Kit
The ToughStuff solar kit includes the ToughStuff ‘Superbright’ LED Lamp and the ToughStuff Solar Panel, also sold separately. The solar panel is designed to be flexible, durable and light, and the lamp has 4 intensity settings to provide up to 40 hours of light. The lamp also has a built-in hook to hang it on a wall or use it as a hand-held flashlight. The lamp is designed to look like a traditional lightbulb. ToughStuff also sells a range of other products powered by its solar panel, including a battery pack for extra power, a mobile charger, and a radio connector to replace D-Cell batteries.