Quality communication quality assurance in Kenya's off-grid lighting market

This investigation attempts to characterize the flow of quality assurance information in Kenya's off-grid lighting market in order to identify key opportunities for improving access to product information throughout the supply chain. While traditional energy access strategies have focused primarily on rural electrification, distributed generation strategies through solar lanterns, solar home systems, and micro-grids are gaining more visibility and consideration as viable alternatives to their fossil-fueled analogs. However, there is a recognized need for greater institutional support to avoid market spoilage and encourage adoption of these nascent technologies in virgin markets. In response to this need, Lighting Global has created a quality assurance framework to monitor the quality of solar products in off-grid markets and communicate this information to market stakeholders. Distributors, wholesale traders, retailers, customers, and other stakeholders were interviewed to better understand how buyers make purchasing decisions and how access to quality assurance information could be improved through mechanisms like product testing reports, on-the-box labeling, or illustrated flip-books. This research finds that solar products are now a dominant presence in off-grid markets in Kenya, capturing iii approximately 80% of the market share by sales revenue in the towns that were surveyed. A variety of information signals were observed in the market, including brandrecognition, word-of-mouth referrals, and on-the-box product performance claims. Simplified product specification sheets and illustrated flip books were identified as the mediums preferred by retailers for learning more about solar products and educating customers. While many of the observed signals reduce uncertainty for end-users, quality signals like warranties, quality seals, or consumer financing were determined to play unique roles in reducing risk for potential solar customers. With increased digital literacy and mobile coverage in Kenya, mobile-friendly websites and social media applications were highlighted as opportunities for engaging and sharing quality assurance information with retailers and end-users further down the supply chain.