Category: News Page 2 of 5

The project in Ghana training local entrepreneurs to sell innovative, life improving products – such as solar lamps and solar mobile phone chargers – has been put on hold. Although the team managed to test quite a number of sales strategies, and has also managed to give ‘proof of concept’, we were forced to stop our business due to the devaluation of the local currency, and technical problems with our best-selling product.

The Ghana Cedi made a sharp drop just when we started our business, and we therefore lost our profit in the months that followed. The imported products became even less affordable for end-users, and it became more and more difficult for our team to meet sales targets. Being a startup, it was difficult to make a full recovery from this situation, even though the Ghana Cedi is now more stable.

Besides the problems with the local currency, we also had many technical problems with one of our best-selling products. This product, although quite robust, could not withstand the fine dust in Ghana. Customers demanded their money back from us, depleting our cash flow.

Although we had created excellent opportunities and partnerships for ourselves – i.e. partnerships with Vivo Energy (Shell Ghana), Ghana Post, Schneider Electric, and more – we have decided to put the project on hold for now. We want to thank all our partners and all the people that cooperated with us, and supported us, and we hope you understand our difficult decision.

Goodget is now working on a new, completely different project in Ghana, but we will keep looking for opportunities to start up again selling life improving products. Some of our entrepreneurs have continued selling the products in Ghana on their own, which is a very encouraging sign.
Also, when we started training entrepreneurs and selling solar lamps, micro finance institutions were not interested in supporting our entrepreneurs. But now they have ‘seen the light’, and are financing the distribution of solar lamps and other life improving products such as water purification devices and irrigation pumps. There might be an opportunity there for us in the future!

On behalf of our partners in The Netherlands, we call all female entrepreneurs in Ghana to participate in Women in Business Challenge organized by BID Network.

The 6th edition of the Women in Business Challenge is a business plan competition aiming to address the problems of underinvestment and increase the number of opportunities for female entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Empowering women entrepreneurs through coaching services, tools and investor connections to progress their business to the next level is our goal.

The business plan competition is aimed at women entrepreneurs who are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. We encourage submissions of business plans in all sectors but have a special focus on businesses in the fields of renewable energy, water or food and agriculture.

Submit your full business plan including financial plan before June 12th 2015. Selected entrepreneurs get free coaching during a periode of 3 months. Finalists will be invited on a business trip to the Netherlands in December 2015.

Subscribe and get free coaching, feedback and support in improving your business plan and growing your business:

• Win one of the 5 business trips to the Netherlands for training, b2b and investor meetings
• Get to pitch in front of the investment committee of the Female Investment Fund of BiD Network, Vera Community and Vive Invest, and be considered for investment

Please check the website of BID Network for more information.

In October 2014 Goodget started a successful crowd funding campaign to fund our Business & Innovation Centre for Female Entrepreneurs in Accra, Ghana. It was a very special crowd funding campaign, because all donations were tripled by the Cheetah Fund. Our goal was to collect 4.500 Euro from the crowd, and Cheetah Fund tripled it to 15.000 Euro. This money will be spent on making the house in Accra ready to accommodate groups of women entrepreneurs, and teach them about growing their businesses.

We want to thank you for your generous gifts; you make it possible for the women entrepreneurs to take the next step and really climb out of poverty and become a role model for other women. In February 2015 we will host our next meeting with stakeholders from NGOs, civil society and businesses, and at the in March we will start training the first group of women entrepreneurs. The Business & Innovation Centre will offer them courses on developing and writing a business plan, leadership, marketing, access to finance and financial management.

Goodget and its founder Elvira de Rooij were featured in Dutch Business and Investors’ magazine Brookz. The article is in Dutch, and describes all our successes and challenges from the start of Goodget until October 2014. Special credit to our investor RVO, who explains the reasons for investing in Goodget in the article.

Read the full article in the Media section of this website

Together with Yente Foundation, Goodget hosted a Business Forum at the Royal Netherlands Embassy on 24. October 2014. The topic was:

 “Entrepreneurship & Social Business – Charting the Path Ahead”

The aim of the forum was to strategize and deploy action plans towards effective preparedness by local women entrepreneurs and organizations for the paradigm shift that development financing and access to credit is currently undergoing under the over arching sub-themes:

• Funding Trends & Self-financing for West African Organizations and Entrepreneurs
• Entrepreneurship as the mode for Financial and Environmental Sustainability
• Capacity Building Needs
• Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs

With speakers from Acumen, the African Women’s Development Fund, and local businesses run by women entrepreneurs, the forum was a big success. It was also the kick-off of our Crowd Funding Campaign for the Business & Innovation Centre for Women Entrepreneurs. All donations will be tripled by DOEN Foundation, so please make your donation here.

The outcomes of the deliberations will serve as a guide to the establishment of a Business & Innovation Centre for Women Entrepreneurs by Goodget, the Yente Foundation and various other partners in 2015.

Besides partnering with Shell Ghana (potential = 99 Shell Shops), Goodget has closed a deal with Ghana Post. Ghana Post has 350 Post Offices nationwide, and Goodget has started to sell its products in 3 of them in Accra. We launched the partnership with Ghana Post during a week-long Goodget Fair at the Central Post Office in Accra in July 2014, where we convinced the staff of Ghana Post of the benefits of our products.

Before expanding to more Post Offices, we want to consolidate our business in the 3 Post Offices we are selling in now. We want to offer the right products that suit the needs of the customers of Ghana Post, and we are therefore experimenting with the range of products we have on offer. Also, we want to get the marketing right for the customer base of the Post Office before we scale to more outlets.

We will be present in the Post Offices at least once a week to demonstrate the products and to inform the customers about the benefits of the products we sell. Within 3 months, we will scale to more Post Offices in the Greater Accra Area, and onwards!

Goodget is looking for an entrepreneur to complement our team with knowledge of sales, project management and entrepreneurship in developing countries. Are you ready to take up the challenge of growing an innovative distribution channel for sustainable, innovative and cost-effective products in Ghana and beyond?

Challenge and opportunity

Goodget distributes sustainable, innovative and cost-effective products – not gadgets, but goodgets – to people who can best use them. Our products range from solar lamps, solar mobile phone chargers, water purification devices, adjustable eyeglasses, and bigger solar installations. All these products can improve the lives of people who live in poverty and daily frustration over lack of clean water, energy supply, sufficient housing and sanitation, depletion of natural resources and degradation of the natural environment.

Goodget started selling in Ghana in February 2014, and has established excellent sales channels with Shell Ghana and Ghana Post. Besides focussing on these retail channels, we are working with local and international partners to set up a Business Centre in Accra, Ghana. At this Business Centre, local women entrepreneurs are trained to sell our products and to grow their businesses.

Now that we are in business for little more than a year, we are looking to expand our activities to all the 99 Shell shops and 350 Post Offices in Ghana.

We are now looking for an entrepreneur who can take on this challenge. You will be working in Ghana and in the Netherlands, and you will supervise all sales activities, work out the sales strategy with the CEO and the local country manager. You will be selling quality products from a.o. Philips and WakaWaka.

Besides sales, it would be a pre if you have a financial background.

Profile

Goodget is looking for an individual with the following characteristics:

• Pro-active, flexible and responsible attitude
• Entrepreneurial / project management experience in developing countries (preferably Ghana)
• Strong commercial sales skills (retail, wholesale, business-to-business)
• Understanding of business finance and microfinance
is a plus
• E-commerce and marketing skills are a plus
• Sensitive to cultural differences
• Strong drive to achieve social impact among the lower & middle income groups
• 
Strong social and environmental values in line with our core values
• Able to oversee complicated situations, see opportunities instead of problems
• Not afraid to go into the field and test new strategies
• Able to inspire co-workers with positive and fair attitude

Tasks

• Responsible for sales activities, setting targets and strategy, including accurate reporting to CEO, investors & partners
• Oversee and delegate tasks & KPI’s to the Ghanaian sales team
• Help the local team to improve and scale Goodget
in Ghana and other African countries
• Open up new sales channels, find new customers, and scout & test new products

This is what Goodget can offer you

• A business that is ready to grow. Sales channels, protocols, products and back office are in place; we are waiting for your enthusiasm and input!
• You will be working on commission for the first months. You will receive a basic salary as soon as the sales results allow for this.
• Travel and accommodation in Ghana are provided for (note: the accommodation in Accra is not completely basic, but not very luxurious either. We are still in the ‘bootstrapping phase’!)
• A fair stake in the business (to be negotiated)
• Starting date: as soon as possible
• The chance to improve the quality of life of thousands of people in Africa!

If you want to be part of our dream and if you are the leading entrepreneur to make it happen, please contact Elvira de Rooij, CEO of Goodget by following this link.

Since 1. February 2014 the Goodget Ghana team has been working hard to demonstrate and sell innovative, life improving products in and around Accra, Ghana. The team targets women’s groups, local entrepreneurs with small shops, and a number of  Shell shops and Post Offices  in Accra.

The team consists of Country Representative Anatu Ben-Lawal, Operational Manager Frimpong Kwaku Duah, and the Demonstration Team members Jane Amerley Oku and Edwige Aku Agbevan .

Training and informing the entrepreneurs about the benefits of the products is a very important part of the teams’ daily business. The benefits of the products are not well known yet, and they have to be explained well before people are interested in buying the products. The first sales have been made, and it is great to see the positive response to our product demonstrations in and around Accra.