Spur charcoal lighter (SCL)

More than half of the 1.4 billion African population suffer from respiratory illnesses caused by inhaled toxic carbon emitted. 

The need to light up a charcoal stove twice daily is filled with pains such as finger burns, blisters, disgusting smoke, delayed fire catching and fire outbreaks and is something worth solving  in over 260 million households across Africa.

By 2030, Uganda’s population is projected to be about 70 million. The population growth is expected to require more than 5 million more housing units…….which will require this solution locally

We are solving the problem with an affordable green charcoal stove lighting product  that is naturally scented, provides instant lighting with a strong lasting flame. Currently during production I use a manually fabricated machine with some force to compress the mixture hence creating rectangular shapes. Finally smaller pieces are cut with a knife before packaging. See how work below;

Watch the clip: https://youtu.be/mgHaO2nI1zw?si=-bagHazl5sfLQfgK

My target population is mainly women aged 18-65  years with Education level of O’ level to Degree whose Employment status is either Employed or Self employed. Household status: Residential homes, Apartments, Estates with monthly Income Earning of at least Ugx.300,000/~$80. 

Their wants/needs includes stress free life, high class goods, instant results, good hygiene. They should care about their health and children more than their money.
Some of their fears/frustrations include; finger burns, multiple lighting, tedious and time consuming, toxic smoke, being around to light from the start to the end.  The solution will address their needs through instant light, strong lasting flame that is naturally scented hence solving both time and money spent on treating respiratory illnesses and cleaning their cooking environment.

Paul having been born in a family of 10 boys and 4 girls. We spent over 15 yrs renting 3 roomed house and I vividly recall challenging of lighting up a charcoal stove on both a wet & dry seasons. Being a boys once my turn pop up, I nearly took an hour lighting it up. Many incidences of using polythene bags within the house were the order of the day during our early childhood growth. When we finally moved to our built house, the charcoal stove lighting challenges went to another level, some days we used pine sticks, sponge, waste paper among others. This was a hustle as well given the smoke content. Many illness were gotten as a result of these experiences. Many other people in the neighborhood has a similar challenge. Over the years I have worked closely with children and women in rural & urban communities and this product has become a pain reliever to over 1500 clients. 

My team has 3 women who are well connected to communities especially women who are the primary consumer of our product. When women identify a problem and have a solution they become great collaborators. Then the 2 gents are great mobilisers and sensianizer. With the mindset of being the manufacturer, we've decided to take on agents from various regions who end up selling to final users. This model has allowed us to identify like-minded business to partner with hence growing our market base and visibility. 

These agents and partners act as a source of feedback/ ideas/ agendas etc that fully influence our product quality improvement..I am happy to say that in a space of 18-20 months, we've made 8 versions each better than the previous one. Credit go to our clients, agents and partners for their tireless feedback..

Therefore with the above experience and impact, I trust that my team is a great team to continue executing this task hence exploring the desire vision of 1M lives being impacted by 2030. 

In a space of 22 months, God has helped me to build a team of 5 individuals (3 women, 2 men).  We've turned an idea into reality that has solved a real lighting need. Market research was done and product tested by offering samples to the target markets. Over 3000 products of Spur Charcoal lighters have been produced and consumed. 8 versions have been made each better than the previous one. We've had had 10 strategic physical exhibitions to showcase and network. 

We've on-boarded 8 agents in the 5 major regions of Uganda. 

I have spoken at 8 various strategic summit & opportunities of collaborations & business linkages have come through. 

Kick started the process of product certification with Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS). 

Established partnerships with like minded business owners to grow own market base and visibility. 

Technically we have a challenge of machinery. My desire is eliminate all manual steps during the production phase hence becoming more efficient and effective. This will scale up our production/ stock. This machine can cost ~2500. 

Legally, since my product has no standards, there is a need to finance the certification process with ~$1351. This limits volumes in our production and exportation opportunities..

Market barrier: At the moment, production is driven by demand. Locally we are challenged by few produced volumes. The fact that the certifying authority has not yet issued us a number, this limits places where our product can go including the East African market..

I also think Solve has people/ community that I can collaborate & partner with hence opening up market opportunities beyond Uganda. 

Our solution creates a new joyous experience of lighting up a charcoal stove which initially had been robbed by the traditional ways. It's green ,smart, creatively packed in a well branded box. Upon opening each box, client's eye are wowed by a free match box.

So far with over 3000 boxes produced & sold, we have reduced incredible feedback & testimonial from clients & agents which have helped us improve various versions & customizing it clients tastes & preferences. The solution was intended to remove any hustles when it comes to lighting up a charcoal stove & I must say we have successfully achieved this. Our target is to grow our impact to over 1M people by 2030. Not only in Uganda but across Africa. 

We've seen the market being disrupted over time in the last 2 years. Our position has always been manufacturing with the intent to our agents who sell to end users. We offer the product at a lower price so the the agent sells it also at an affordable price..I am certain once production capacity is addressed the cost of this product will extremely be low. We have opportunities to export the product into larger markets like Nigeria & Kenya among others. 

Currently our impact is intended to be experienced in the 5 regions of Uganda. 

5 regions to raise regional distributor who are to onboard 100 agents by 2026. Currently trusted agents will be availed the opportunity of becoming distributors. 

Spur klean to try mobile boda ie  bicycle rider selling our product while they transport their client (New year to be executed). The larger picture of this is to get 1000+ riders within KampaIa registered. Benefits for riders include Acquire an extra income while at their business. such as creating 40% commission on sale & contact list. Save on family expenses on medical & cleaning bills. Delivery opportunities from Kidz Spur , Spur klean etc hence improving their livelihoods. This will open a door to create an application for data collection, customised service, financial literacy, etc. 

Producing 1M products by 2030. Roughly 170,000 products produced per year. All these aimed at making wellness and wealthy a reality. 

Before launching our product, we used Google forms links instant research, pre-orders and later product feedback. 

Through various contacts gathered, we've used bulk SMS, what's app and social medias to reach out to our clients. 

In terms of payments, we've mobile money service providers to ease transactions hence facilitating trade. 

Production line: This is still manual yet the desired plan is digital, starting from sieving, mixing, moulding, pressing, fashioning, cutting and packaging. This is yet to be deployed prior to financing. This intented application of technology in our production unit will accelerate efficiency. 

Printing: Currently we outsource our printing and use manual approaches like cutting using scissors, glue to stick the caps of the box. This consumes a lot of time & energy. My intention is to have a digital printer that gets to do everything hence outputting a box.

Storage: A management system to track stock levels & records on clients / agents. This ofcourse comes with alongside accounts management system to bring on track our financials. 

Agents/ Branches: As the number of agents & client base grows, an app will be highly needed to bring really instant reporting updates. 

Our team has 5 individuals, 3 ladies and 2 gents. All are part timers and receive commissions on sales. It's only me who is full time. 

We also have 8 agents in the 5 regions of Uganda who still. They too receive our product at a subsidized price and make a profit on sale. 

Personally I have been working on this idea since 2019(5yrs). My team too has been supportive from 2022 and since then we've not looked back.

The team is well diverse with various capabilities to accelerate business growth.

We onboard 60% women, 30% men and 10% persons with special needs. 

With the scaling up need in both  human & machinery, we hope to create a facility for young mothers as haven for their children/ babies as they come to work.

We are open to offering opportunities to like minded individuals or business owners in the fields of energy and renewable. 

Members on the team each hunts for opportunities that are beneficial to the group. And members are free to explore hence offering full participation.

Our aim is to get every individual welcome, respected, supported and valued as we serve our clients. 

Our business model is business to business. At the moment since we haven't scaled up we have business to client model featuring  at some point too. 

Our clients have gained great satisfaction, saved income off medical bills, cleaning walls and a match box. 

The beneficiaries have lit their charcoal stoves with ease,quick and smokeless. 

Pains shall as too much chocking smoke, burnt fingers and long time taken while lighting up are solved by our product. 

Gain creators include withstanding strong winds, a free match box, customized organic scent and great quality packaging. 

Our products and services that have brought incredible impact and value to our clients includes spur charcoal lighters, knowledge sharing through training, cleaning service such as 

1. Low hanging windows
2. Tiles, Tiled roof & graves
3. Terrazzo & Pavers
4. Oven & Carpet 
5. Toilets & Bathroom 
6. Dirty & Stained walls 
7. Sofaz , Plastic walls 

Then Products as
1.Tile, Pavers, Terrazzo cleaner
2.Oven, flat iron cleaner
3. Wall strain removers
4. Glass, window, mirror cleaner
5. Toilet, bathroom cleaner

The spur charcoal lighter has provided great pain relievers such as being organic scented, instant lighting and affordable price for our clients. 

Initially Spur klean's servicing  work provided revenue portions to kick start production in terms of purchasing raw materials like wax, natural oils, box printing etc 

At some point friends have given me some revenue in form of simple loans at no interest ~$500 that we ably paid back. 

We have also encouraged our agents to prepay for their orders which helps us use that revenue to make production for their orders. I found this to be creatively sustainable.

We have received PR, visibility, branding & marketing from our business mentoring & networking community called we Empower you Africa valued at ~$800. This has made us outstanding. 

The 3000+ boxes produced & sold have generated revenue ranging between $810 to $2000

I am looking forward to seeing more growth opportunities as more agents onboard, increasing our production through investment in machinery & human. 

Just to provide some information on this product ...We have two boxes namely: 

The small box which has 20 pieces + a match box @ Ugx.1000/= ~$0.3 and the medium box which has 64 pieces. + a match box @ Ugx. 3500/=~$1. Our goal is to realize revenue of $100,000 by 2026. So no holding back with our plans of scaling up and growing our capacity.