SolAlert: Solar Intruder Alert with Text Messaging System

Security has been a significant concern in many households in Africa. In Kenya, 45% of the homes lack access to electricity, and 34% of the 77,600 crimes registered in 2017 were theft and burglary. This year, our former “street youth” students designed a solution for their community. A solar intruder alert system in each home will use a combination of motion, ultrasonic, and imagery to detect any intruder during the times of its operation set by the owner. The solar intruder alert system will detect the movement of an intruder using thermal infrared radiation, ultrasonic sound, or a camera, and produce light, sound, and a text message to alert the homeowner. The product uses six simple components of a microcontroller (Arduino), GSM module, sensors, connectors, light, and buzzer that are easily available in most peri-urban communities all around the world, allowing for easy scaling, simple installation and maintenance process.

Security has been a significant concern in many households in Africa, in particular in peri-urban and agricultural communities. According to World Bank Statistics, in 2017, approximately 55% of Sub-Saharan Africa had no electricity access, and, around the world, 59% of low-income communities were without electricity. In our context in Kenya, 45% of homes lack access to power. Communities without access to electricity are often subject to crimes that threaten both safety and economic livelihood. Burglary of vehicles, electronics, water pumps, and livestock is highly feared in these communities. In the other region where we work, Turkana, near the Kenya’s border with Uganda and South Sudan, several cases of gender-based violence have been reported when women try accessing toilets at night. Livestock theft has also lead to ethnic conflicts in northern Kenya and violence against the groups seen as at fault. In particular, displaced young people, like the “street youth” and refugees who are our students, are perceived as the main perpetrators of these crimes. These crimes can be limited with access to electricity and appropriate intruder alert systems. Further, showcasing the solution by former “street youth” and refugees will also transform community perceptions and provide entrepreneurial opportunities for these youth.

The population we are working with are low-and-middle-income households and businesses in semi-urban and rural communities. Our institution is located in a low-resource community in the rural outskirts of the growing industrial town of Eldoret, Kenya. The community we are immediately targeting and working with are households of daily laborers, shop owners, small scale business owners, paid employees, and small-holder farmers. Our design team engages former “street youth” at our center at all stages. Over the last three months, we met with over 50 potential users in this community to conduct interviews. We have found out their needs and conducted preliminary product acceptability market research. The three alert system options (light, sound, and text message) that we have described in our product solution were identified from the users during market research. We involve the users closely at various stages of product development. First, with the identification of needs, second, on product acceptability feedback, and third, during final product development. We apply user-centered design in the development of this solution. The solution is also currently considered for the refugee population living in northern Kenya, where the refugees themselves are also included in the design team through an engineering learning program.

A solar intruder alert system designed by former "street youth" in Kenya, installed in low-income households, will use a combination of motion, ultrasonic, and/or imagery to detect any intruder (human and animal) during the times of its operation as set by the owner. The solar intruder alert system will detect the movement of an intruder using thermal infrared radiation, ultrasonic sound, or a camera, and produce light, sound, and a text message to alert the homeowner. The product combines a renewable and easy-to-access solar energy source to provide security systems for low- and middle-income communities who primarily lack reliable access to electricity from the grid. The product is also simplified from available products, fulfilling a gap in the market using a low-cost and secure mobile network system without the need for internet, through which the customer can choose to have any of the three or a combination of the alert systems (light, sound, text message). The product uses six simple components of a microcontroller (Arduino), GSM module, sensors, connectors, light, and buzzer. These components are readily accessible in the context of our operation and most peri-urban communities in Kenya.

Additionally, the product is unique as it has been collaboratively developed by students in the community of this need, who are former "street youth" at an alternative school. Our team of students conducted market research with a simple first-level prototype using an ultrasonic sound sensor with light and sound alert options with approximately 50 potential customers in the community, including both low-and-middle-income families. The research results showed that 98% of the interviewees demonstrated an interest in the product, with 20% of them ready to purchase immediately knowing the approximate cost of the product. 16% of the users requested a payment plan which will allow them to acquire quickly. Currently, our team (including the administrative leaders on this proposal and our students) are working together in testing the text messaging alert system, and with more financial support, we will be able to convert this idea into a viable product. In addition to the product itself, our trained team of former street-youth and vocational students will carry out free installation of the product with a one-year warranty service and free maintenance for up to one year. We will also conduct a free electrical health check-up at the customer’s home and offer advice for any protective measures necessary.

Our solution is innovative across all three aspects mentioned in the question. 1.) Technology - Our SolAlert product utilizes low-cost electronics that are easily accessible in most markets, which are simultaneously used for education for our students building them, to provide three different indications of alert. The text messaging system in particular is unique, as the existing technologies that are available depend on WiFi and require a smartphone, since they are developed and used in high-income countries. However, in low-resource contexts, a simple text message that accesses even most basic phones is the best possible way to alert, given the increase and coverage of mobile phones in East Africa. 2.) Application - Our product brings together existing technology in a unique way to serve the needs of the user. Though alert systems are common around the world, they are not designed for the needs of a low-income user or by a member of this community. Therefore, our product is unique as it designed based on the needs of a user who is often neglected in the design of these products. 3.) Business model - Our product is distinctively community-driven, as it is designed by former "street youth" in the community with a participatory approach of the community members. The features of the product are based on the actual community members’ feedback and needs. The business will be run as a social enterprise within the alternative school where the youth themselves will run it alongside the community members.

The product uses six simple components in a robust system: a microcontroller (Arduino), GSM modules, sensors, connectors, light, and buzzer. A solar intruder alert system installed in each home will use a combination of motion and ultrasonic sensors and imagery to detect human intruders and animal predators during the times of its operation as set by the owner. The solar intruder alert system will detect the movement of an intruder using thermal infrared radiation or a camera, and produce light, sound, and a text message to alert the homeowner. The product combines a renewable and easy to access solar energy source to provide security systems. The product is designed to have a standard and customized product category based on the household it is installed for. The standard package will include a controller box, with five sensors to be installed around a household, two LED lights, a buzzer, and a GSM module. If the user has access to a smartphone, we are currently working on testing using imagery, whereby the camera will send pictures to the user's smartphones using an app. Our business caters to low-income communities and understands the challenges they have to purchase a product such as ours. Based on the market research we did, 16% of users requested for a monthly or weekly payment method. Using the mobile financing technology option available in East Africa (MPesa), we are creating a monthly installment model for lower rates of interest.

The product is community-driven as it has been collaboratively developed by students in one of the target communities. These students are actually former “street youth” who have taken the initiative to move off of the street and further their education at an alternative school. Our team conducted market research with a simple first-level prototype using a distance sensor with a light and sound alert system in the market with approximately 50 potential customers in the community, including both low- and middle-income families. The research showed that 98% of interviewees demonstrated interest in the product, with 20% of them ready to purchase immediately. 16% of the users requested a payment plan which would allow them to acquire the product quickly despite economic constraints. Currently, our team of students and our research team are working together in testing the text messaging alert system, and with more financial support, we will be able to convert this idea into a commercial product. First, our team will take a fully developed prototype in communities at different levels of income in the area and gather second round of user feedback. Upon addressing all the feedback, our students will launch the product in the communities where the users have already expressed interest. We will monitor and test it in-service for 3-6 months for errors and challenges with the alert system. We will install the products in varying settings in peri-urban Eldoret and the combined refugee/host community in Turkana, including households, business, warehouses, livestock farms, and agricultural farms.

Our product is currently in the stage of a prototype, being tested at the alternative school where it is designed. Therefore, at the test phase it is serving 30 students and two caretakers in the night. Upon developing the finished product, we will install the solution in the first 50 households and business spaces who were interviewed during the market research for beta-test. The beta-test that will be done during the months of July-December will serve a total of 200 people. Upon completing the beta-test and addressing any modifications to the product, we will roll out the product first to the communities that have been most vulnerable to security in the town of Eldoret (home to 400,000 people). Three larger communities of Kapsoya, Ilula, and Chepkoilel will be targeted during the next year, covering up to 50,000 people (on average 10,000 homes). In parallel, we will continue testing the product through our established networks and on-going programs in the town of Lodwar (60,000 people) and Kakuma refugee camp (200,000) people. In the next five years, we will expand to these locations while serving the city of Eldoret and the county to reach a maximum of 350,000 people.

Our immediate goal is to acquire the resources to develop a finished and sellable product. We are seeking funding from various sources to give us access to enough materials to sustainably build the finished product for beta-test. Once we have the 50 beta-test products, we will install them and monitor weekly to obtain performance data from the users. Meanwhile, we will submit our product for the Kenyan Bureau of Standards certification to obtain the standards for sale commercially. In parallel, we will be designing and testing an assembly line that can produce 100 products daily. This will allow us to produce 2000 products in a month and 24,000 in a year to meet the demand. As this effort will become part of a social enterprise with the goal to provide learning and career opportunities for “street youth” students gaining vocational skills, we will educate, train, and employ 20 students in the first year and increase up to 150 in the next five years to carry on the operations. In the next five years, our goals are to expand the approach to other communities. We will use a similar community-driven approach in every new community we expand to. We will participate in monthly community meetings, engaging with existing cultural spaces for meeting and discussion, to demonstrate our solution, gather feedback, and involve the community in the design and modifications of the solutions to meet their needs.

We currently face a few barriers in order to deliver our solution to the users. The biggest barrier is financial. As we are a community based organization (Kenyan non-profit), largely funded by donors, we rely heavily on donations to sustain new projects. So far, we have received minimal funding through the engineering program to test the solution. In order to scale this idea to beta-test we experience challenges in accessing start-up funding. We will need $15,000 to efficiently deliver the products and services during the beta-test and more to continue developing. The second main barrier for us is technical. Currently, the GSM module that we use is in shortage to purchase in pieces. The electronic suppliers demand the order to be large for them to acquire them without losses as it is not a high-moving product for them. We also face the cultural barrier of functioning in a low-resource environment with “street youth” students. Street youth face a stigma from the general public and are considered as thieves by many. We have been successful in breaking that assumption in the communities we have worked currently; however, we will face challenges when expanding to new communities. The final barrier we will face is in the market. Although our research shows that we do not have significant competition for this product, we will be limited in resources to expand compared to other major competitors in the field of electronics and solar products.

(1) Financial barrier: Our main way of addressing this barrier currently is by applying for grants and competitions. We have so far applied for grants from corporations, aid agencies, and donor foundations and are continuing to make efforts in submitting to contests such as MIT SOLVE. Since our efforts are part of a social enterprise to support vulnerable youth in the streets, we are not seeking venture capitalists at the moment to first exhaust other possible areas of obtaining investment. (2) For the technical barrier, we are exploring the entire electronics suppliers’ markets in Eldoret and Nairobi. We are initiating conversations with suppliers who are able to access GSM modules to offer us supply information and wholesale prices. Most of these suppliers obtain the product from the U.S. Therefore, we are beginning to identify ways to explore suppliers in the U.S. who can directly sell it to us. (3) By using the community-drive approach we have used in our own community of Silas (Eldoret), we will transfer our learning and best practices to break the assumptions about street youth and refugees to effectively engage them as equal members of the community. (4) For the market barrier, our main approach at this point is to gain mentorship for experts as much as possible. That will be one of our expectations from SOLVE to mentor us in the areas of social enterprise, business, and management to function and scale effectively.

Tumaini Innovation Center, a Community Based Organization and a Vocational School serving street-connected children and youth. Our solution will be part of a social enterprise initiative that we will collaboratively setup with our graduated students of the vocational school and DeBoer Lab at Purdue University. 

The full-time team members at the moment include 4 students trained in solar photovoltaic and electrical wiring in our vocational training center. The project is lead by an engineering doctoral student from Purdue University who has been responsible for running the engineering program at Tumaini for the past 4 years, and is currently placed at Tumaini. Part-time team members include an assistant professor of engineering at Purdue, an electrical instructor, a team of 6 engineering instructors at Tumaini with varying backgrounds from social work to economics, and the Program Director skilled in management and planning. 

Our students have two years of experience learning a foundational engineering course using the engineering design process to develop their solar photovoltaic skills and professional competencies. Through this course, they developed a solution to the perennial power outages at the center by setting up solar panels to provide power when power from the grid goes off.  The project team possesses extensive knowledge and skills in solar photovoltaic and electronic circuits. The doctoral student is at Purdue University in the School of Engineering Education. He has more than five years of experience in renewable energy with interest in sustainable energy and learning pathways of vulnerable communities. The assistant professor at Purdue has excellent recognition for her work of taking engineering to vulnerable communities around the world. Their engagement with Tumaini over the last five years has enabled them to be great partners. The solar voltaic instructor has a Diploma in Technical Education in the field of Electrical Engineering from Kenya Technical Teachers College and two years experience in teaching on solar voltaic skills. The Tumaini Innovation Center Program Director has over ten years of experience working with street street-connected youth. He trains street youth in entrepreneurship skills that are crucial in running this project as a social enterprise to create financial sustainability to the more extensive Tumaini program. The engineering instructors bring varied perspectives from social work, economics, childhood education, automotive, and welding technologies. The diversity of this team working towards a common goal serves as the strength. 

Tumaini Innovation Center is currently working with DeBoer Lab. Our partnership with DeBoer Lab started in 2015 in order to run an engineering program, which has demonstrated great success in student rehabilitation, learning, and career prospects. We work with them with an understanding of long-term partnership in order to fulfill both organizations goals. Through this partnership, we have gone through two iterations of the engineering program completing 6 projects that have resulting in engineering design, technical, and professional competencies of the students. 

Our value proposition is to solve the inconsistent supply of power from the main grid leading to an increased burglary in the ensuing darkness and incapacitated alarm systems that run on the same electricity. We will offer small household owners an innovative and affordable alternative solar alarm system. The alternative solution our customers a reliable solution against burglary. We offer both solar products and free service to install and maintain them. 

Our immediate customer segments include low-income earners living in the nearby slums of Munyaka and Silas looking for solar security systems to protect themselves against burglary when electricity from the main grid main. We plan to expand this customer segment to business people operating businesses in Eldoret town and its environs. To deliver this value to the customers we will use door-to-door marketing around the communities, outreach programs by doing demonstrations of the system. Our Social media page will be used to share to the larger community about the innovation and therefore expand our customer base. In addition, we will use text messages to keep engaging our customers who have shown interest or bought the alarm system.

We will capture the value of our product through several revenue streams.  The first is selling the product through a one-time payment. Customers can also use the Pay-as-you-go monthly installments for a small interest payment mode. Thirdly they can rent the product and pay monthly utility bills for using it. 

Our calculations on the cost of the product include; the fixed costs of investing in the infrastructure for a solar lab, demonstration space, test-bench space for testing, repair and maintenance, storage space, and office space. Our variable costs include; salaries, product materials, fuel for transportation, marketing activities, outreach, loans, and training costs. 

Based on our calculations the revenue covers the cost of expenses making the business of selling the product profitable and therefore sustainable. To develop the business we plan to raise other capital investments through donations and grants from organizations like General Electric Kenya and Safaricom Foundation.

We are applying to Solve for three reasons. 1.) To understand how our solution is positioned in comparison to solutions worldwide tackling similar problems, and gather feedback on our own developments so far. 2.) To access the resources available, in particular the expertise and mentorship that we can benefit from in various areas that are noted in the question below. 3.) To be able to obtain funding through the prizes that can help us get access to resources. In the barriers question above, we clearly listed about our financial barrier and how the prize money will be put to use. In terms of the market expertise, in particular starting, and running a social enterprise that risks on the livelihood of many is the most immediate need that we are trying to access through Solve. Through the 12 month personalized support, we hope to better understand the nuances of product development, distribution, strategic planning, alignment with the social organization, business and management, positioning our technology into the market, legal aspects of the products such as IP, standards, and finally creating a sustainable business. 

We would like to partner with solar companies like General Electric who have given us a grant opportunity to provide this solar energy solution to low-income households while simultaneously creating entrepreneurial opportunities for a uniquely talented population of street youth.  We are working on a grant proposal for the same idea to Safaricom the leading Kenyan telecommunications company who have an interest in the solar energy sector in Kenya. Angel Investors are a desired investors to our business. The DeBoer Lab from Purdue University will help in developing the product and fine tuning it to meet customers needs and desires. 

Our solution is particularly and distinctively community-driven. The Tumaini security system solution comes out of our unique engineering curriculum that is targeted to some of the most marginalized learners – former “street youth” in urban Eldoret, Kenya. Our engineering class is built on the premise that these marginalized students, rather than just being seen as a burden on their communities, have a huge potential as creative and capable engineers. Through our foundational engineering class, they have learned about the engineering design process, professional skills, and relevant technical skills. These competencies have helped bolster their formal academic performance (feeding into their knowledge of science, math, etc.), but has also empowered them to be problem solvers in their residential school and, now, being seen as experts for their local community. This drastic change in the community’s perception of the Tumaini students has meant that our students have been able to gather data and conduct extensive market research in their surrounding neighborhood. By applying their engineering skills, they have driven this innovative solar-powered security system locally, from the ground up. Their engineering learning and the product they have created provides a sustainable entrepreneurship opportunity as well as a transformation in the community’s view of these former “street youth” – two crucial ingredients in major social mobility for the Tumaini students.

Our solution is uniquely qualified for the Refugee Inclusion Prize because of the connection we have built between Tumaini and the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Turkana, Kenya. We implement a parallel engineering curriculum in Tumaini and in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. Our pilot project, developed at Tumaini, scales to the course that we run there in Kakuma. We have already conducted a first local network-building visit, bringing Tumaini student leaders (former “street youth”) to Kakuma to build connections and explore the intersection of programs between the two places. Our program uniquely provides entrepreneurial opportunities for refugees, who take the engineering they have learned in our class and apply it to the security system they can build. The security system addresses a need in the host community of the Turkana region, where individuals and families not that personal and physical safety is a major issue for the community. Our refugee students’ ability to build and sell the systems our students have designed will support their economic independence and the development of stronger cohesion with the host community around Kakuma and Kalobeyi (integrated host community and refugee settlement where many of our students live). Supporting our project would provide the funds for us to build and manufacture the designed solutions in Kakuma and mobilize sustainable small-scale enterprise by our refugee students, who could sell at a price point accessible for the host community members to access a much needed safety and security technology.

No

Globally, there is an estimated 100-150 million homeless/unaccompanied “street youth”, and it is likely that even this statistic is an underestimate. Communities and even public institutions see these young people as a menace, and stigma and other factors often keep “street youth” out of formal school and pushed further and further to the margins. Our solution firmly confronts this vicious cycle of poverty and exclusion, disrupting current policies and community norms by explicitly centering former “street youth” as highly capable, creative, and uniquely qualified to be the engineers their communities need. In our solution, former “street youth”, who would be perceived by the community as a security threat to others, are transformed into the entrepreneurs and maintenance experts providing a digital, durable solar security light. Our solution, by providing technical competence, engineering professional skills, and opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge, trains former “street youth” as future leaders and disrupts the community and political norms that do not give them the chance to return to fully empowered lives in their community. Our solution is innovative as compared to other solutions that rehabilitate “street youth”, as ours gives them the chance to both learn engineering and apply their knowledge to an existing problem in the community. Our innovation is backed by market research students at Tumaini have conducted with collaborators from the USA. The solution that the students have come up with is locally-designed, by students who our curriculum has seen as future engineers and agents of change.