KICKSTART

In Africa, 80% of the population are poor farmers with a small plot of land and one basic skill set, farming. On a global scale, one third of the population are poor farmers. Martin Fisher, the founder of KickStart, had studied the relationship between poverty and technology and used this knowledge to design a practical, low-cost irrigation pump that could remove farmers’ dependency on rain-fed agriculture. The pump had to be human powered to eliminate reliance on petroleum and electricity. It had to be convincingly effective to a population with little to invest in new technology and an understandable resistance to purchase something they had never before seen.

Despite the fact that Africa lacks of a tradition of mass production, Martin devoted many years to implement high quality mass production of the pump in Africa. The challenges included inferior raw materials, unskilled labor, lack of quality control. As sales increased and the company began developing new designs, hoping to offer more than one model, Martin realized that continued production in Africa was no longer feasible. A lower cost solution was likely possible in China, but KickStart was inexperienced in the processes for evaluating offshore production, uncertain how to bridge cultural differences, and had no background in assessing margins and relative costs.

Using the analytical and research talents of an intern with a Stanford MBA, Martin began exploring movement of pump production to China. The intern discovered E-BI and recommended a meeting with E-BI management after KickStart began an unsuccessful venture with a small scale Hong Kong manufacturer who could not provide the quality and quantity KickStart required. With E-BI guidance, management and vendor relationships, KickStart started producing the Super Money Making Pump, and later introduced their second pump, a smaller implement that looks like a hand pump. E-BI enabled KickStart to fulfill one of its objectives, which was to remain focused on developing additional pump models and marketing to get the pump into the hands of as many farmers as possible. The combination of guarantees from E-BI senior management about finding factories, quality, schedules, and being able to help line up shipping, along with having local teams onsite to make sure it happens, gave KickStart the assurance needed to select E-BI.

Martin Fisher states that without E-BI, it would have been very hard for KickStart to make a decision to go ahead because for them, it would have meant jumping into some very deep waters with no real way of knowing where the bottom was or how to get out. With E-BI’s own ideas and resources, they provided value-added expertise to help KickStart increase efficiencies and lower costs. E-BI’s software transparency and stage by stage accountability enabled the process evaluation needed to help KickStart improve margin. Given the company mission to dramatically reduce poverty on a global scale, every penny off margin has vital impact.