What happens when you team up sales staff, technical minds, business leaders and administration staff from a range of companies from tech start-ups, major distributors and investment organisations? A jolly good Jamboree!
So, what is a Jamboree and why does a pump manufacturer have one?
One definition:
“An international gathering of different cultures fostering friendship and understanding”
Or maybe…
“A large celebration or party, typically a lavish and boisterous one.”
Sounds fun doesn’t it?
As for why we as Futurepump holds one, as jovial as it may sound, harbouring this friendship and understanding between members of the growing Futurepump family is essential to achieving our mutual goals.
To sell more solar irrigation pumps, to support our customers and to provide a cleaner, greener and economically efficient solar water pump for irrigation to those who will benefit from it the most.
The Futurepump Distributors Jamboree 2018
Over the two-day event we discussed a huge range of topics from distribution, to technical training and monitoring and evaluation making use of our new remote monitoring platform, Habari. With over 50 people in attendance each topic presented by Futurepump sparked many questions and conversations.
The most essential part of the Jamboree for us as the manufacturer, is to learn from our distributors. We are aware that a great technology is still very much the start and it is through our partners we learn what it is the customer wants and needs.
Davis & Shirtliff, our tier one distributor of Futurepump solar water pumps in Kenya, were in attendance and the audience was fortunate to hear from Technical Director, Philip Holi. Davis & Shirtliff is the leading supplier of water related equipment in the East African region; based in Kenya they own over 50 stores in Kenya and are expanding across East Africa through regional subsidiaries.
“Solar is the future of water pumping” – Philip Holi
It was extremely encouraging to hear Philip discuss Davis & Shirtliff’s progress, ideas and plans and to discover that renewable energies, innovative technologies and especially solar are moving to the forefront of their business.
Finance partners
Everywhere you go in the renewable, productive asset, sector people are talking about finance. Offering pay as you go systems, monthly payment loans or harvest cycle finance to customers to spread the capital cost. We were privileged to hear from Eric Naivasha who heads up the Energy and Environment Group within Equity Bank.
His impassioned speech brought optimism to the room – the private banking sector sees value in productive assets, the network of banks and kiosks reach hundreds of thousands of customers and there is great potential for distributors and banks to work together.
After all this seriousness there is always room for fun!
Day one ended with the Futurepump Pump Teardown competition. Something which we like to think is becoming famous within our sector… (we like to think so…).
Split into teams the attendees were racing to beat the time set by our “pit-stop pro” team back in 2016. This was 4 minutes to dismantle the whole SF2 solar pump and put it back together again – no mean feat!
Watch the video here!
In favour of face to face meetings
Speed of online meetings grossly underestimates the power of human interaction – Forbes.
What is always remarkable about these events is the power of meeting in person. Shaking someone’s hand that you have only corresponded with via email or skype, chatting over lunch, racing across the grass to plug in a solar panel together, all these things spark enthusiasm, discussion and inspire us to go the extra mile. Each part of the chain, from manufacturer to distributor to end user is extremely important and cannot work alone.
With this we look forward to our next Jamborees and hope to see many of you there!
Click through the photos from the event:
Author: Helen Davies
