As it was mentioned above for a successful product commercialization the feasibility study was implemented. The feasibility study covers the topics such as bottom-up user and field research, top-down market research, distributor analysis, business model and business plan and its key outcomes are described below:
Top-down market research. Based on global overview, two potential markets namely African and Asian were selected and further analysed. It has been identified that the African market is currently highly saturated, since there has been great developments in building infrastructure and connecting off-grid communities to electricity, thus overall it currently has steadily rising electrification rates, which in effect shrinks potential market size for GETASUN, thus it was decided that this market should not be entered. The most electricity deprived region in the world is Asia, where as much as 800 million people have no access to electricity (Such as India - 267m people, Bangladesh - 41.47m people). This is why Solet Technics will re-focus to Asian market, particularly to India and Bangladesh. This is why a decision to rebrand the product was made. It will help to meet the user preferences in the Asian market and help build positive exposure.
Bottom-up user and field research. The semi-structured interviews were performed with 20 households in Bangladesh that currently are off-the-grid and mainly use kerosene lamps for lighting. These interviews showed that there is a demand for GETASUN, and all of the participants would be interested to buy the solution. However, the willingness to pay and the needed features of the solution varied among respondents. Since the average total costs for lighting and phone charging currently are $ 8, it is recommended to enter the market with the solution that provides lighting, phone charging option, and Wi-Fi for $ 10 per month.
Distributor Analysis. Relying on the booming telecommunication business in developing countries, the most efficient way to reach theses communities is to distribute GETASUN solar power kit by partnering with mobile telecommunication operators. The business model based on a partnership with a telecommunication company enables to exploit synergy and lower the costs. GETASUN identified that current telecom operators have very low ARPU (Average return per user), thus proposed partnership from GETASUN will provide new and stable revenue streams using their already existing distributor network, and thus highly likely to agree to collaborate.
Business Model & Business Plan development. In the course of the project GETASUN performed SWOT analysis, Industry background, market, and competitor analysis which led to a better understanding of the market nuances and gave the required sophisticated understanding and information on the target market needed for developing successful Commercialisation, Marketing, Operations, Sales, and Financial strategies. All this resulted in a strong business model using telcos as key partners in delivering the final product to the end-user, and an elaborated financial model with forecasted needs for further investment and strategies for attracting it.
