FY16 ANNUAL REPORT. July 1, June 30, 2016

Transcription

1 FY16 ANNUAL REPORT July 1, June 30, 2016

2 OVERVIEW FY2016 marked the first full year under KickStart s new 2021 strategy. The organization entered new countries, created new leadership positions, instituted new program and staffing structures, further adapted to a new way of promoting irrigation solutions and forged relationships with hundreds of new partners and distributors. Through the reach and continued growth of our partnership-based sales model, KickStart is scaling its impacts promoting food and income security across broader geographies. KickStart now has skilled partnership and sales staff on the ground in 11 countries, and MoneyMaker irrigation pumps are now available to farmers through a growing private sector supply chain in 14 countries across sub-saharan Africa (SSA). Taken together, these countries are home to more than 20 million small-scale farms with access to shallow water for irrigation. Now, many of the entrepreneurial families and individuals these farms support have the opportunity to purchase MoneyMaker pumps from local distributors and dealers to transform their plots into thriving businesses. This year, KickStart s team drove the best quarterly performance in the organization s history, achieving 181% of our target for the quarter and 42% growth over the same quarter last year. The MoneyMaker pumps sold across SSA in those three months enabled someone to take a major step out of poverty every 3 minutes and 15 seconds. KickStart s cost-effectiveness also greatly exceeded the year one projections from the strategic plan. Within the partnership model, and with a reduced budget, the average donor cost to lift one person out of poverty in FY16 was $25. Overall, the outcomes of this year are an encouraging start on the path to reaching an additional one million people in Africa out of poverty by 2021, both cost-effectively and sustainably. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 1

3 FY 16 IMPACTS 16,500 FAMILY FARMING BUSINESSES CREATED 21,981 PUMPS SOLD 82,000 PEOPLE LIFTED OUT OF POVERTY $14 MILLION/YEAR PROFITS AND WAGES EARNED FOR ONCE POOR FAMILIES 800,000 PEOPLE FED WITH FRUITS & VEGETABLES ANNUALLY FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 2

4 SALES AGAINST ANNUAL GOAL Working through partner organizations and distributors, pump sales will often come through in uneven, large bulk orders. Given that the nature of our business includes an ebb and flow of orders, KickStart is now reporting our quarterly pump sales against the annual target of 25,000 pumps. In FY16, KickStart sold 21,981 pumps -- 88% of our annual goal. With strong Q4 performance, KickStart ended the year having sold 21,981 pumps. This represents an impressive 10% growth over the previous year and 88% achievement against the annual target. The quarter made up nearly half of the annual total; a solid finish, which can be attributed in part to the introduction of the new DQ sales method and training across KickStart s programs from Q3. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 3

5 E A S T AFRICA KENYA TANZANIA UGANDA ETHIOPIA RWANDA SOUTH SUDAN Partnership-based, GIP sales in East Africa achieved 170% fulfillment against the regional target for Q4 with 817 pumps sold against a target of 480. Sales in the region grew 13% over GIP sales from the same period of the previous year. Growth in GIP sales in East Africa was even greater for FY16 as a whole, increasing more than 50% over FY15 sales. A lean team drove the sale of 2,738 pumps in East Africa, 127% of the annual target for the region. After restructuring the program in Tanzania and transitioning completely to the partnership-based model, Q4 sales in the country grew significantly compared to the same quarter last year and achieved 102% of the quarterly target with 755 pumps sold. Q4 sales in Kenya also exceeded the quarterly goal, reaching 103% fulfillment with 882 pumps sold. Over the course of the year, KickStart built the private sector supply chain for MoneyMaker pumps and spare parts in every priority country in East Africa and currently has at least one active distributer in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda as well as mature supply chains in Kenya and Tanzania. Pictured below: A MoneyMaker pump training in Western Kenya FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 4

6 W E S T AFRICA GHANA MALI BURKINA FASO NIGERIA SENEGAL The West Africa regional GIP program reached 350% of its Q4 target, with 700 pumps sold against a target of 200. Q4 sales in the region grew 30% over the same period of the previous year and total FY16 sales in the region grew over 40% compared with FY15 sales. A total of 2,510 MoneyMaker pumps were sold in FY16, representing 107% fulfillment of the annual sales target for the region. The regional hub in Ghana, which was established in FY16, coordinates activities across the region. MoneyMaker pumps and spare parts are now available through private sector suppliers in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso. The only priority country in West Africa where KickStart does not yet have an active presence is Senegal. SOUTHERNAFRICA ZAMBIA MOZAMBIQUE MALAWI DRC ZIMBABWE GIP sales in Southern Africa greatly surpassed the Q4 target and reached more than 400% achievement with 7,000 pumps sold against a target of 1,600 pumps. This represents more than 70% growth over the same period of the previous year. During FY16, KickStart sold 10,710 pumps through the GIP program in Southern Africa, the greatest volume in any region. This represent 125% of the annual target and 40% growth over FY15 sales. While sales in the region as a whole were impressive, the country program in Zambia faced a number of challenges leading to 40% fewer pumps sold in Q4 FY16 than in Q4 FY15. Throughout FY16, KickStart optimized a sustainable supply chain for MoneyMaker pumps through private sector distributers and dealers and generated demand from a strong network of partners in Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, every priority country in the region. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 5

7 MONIKA S STORY 5 years ago, Monika Nduko s life was very different than it is today. Her lush green farm sits at the bottom of a large hill below her house, but it wasn t always this green. Monika grew up farming the way her parents did, drawing water from the stream and carrying it with a bucket to her plot. She explained how tiring the process was and despite her efforts, her yields were small and often nonexistent in the dry season. In the dry season, the land remained mostly brown. But in 2011, Monika purchased one of KickStart s pumps and that s when things began to change. The small piece of land she had been farming had earned her an average of only $4 per week and little to no money when the rains didn t come. Not only has the pump enabled her to double the size of her farm, she explained, I now earn $20 per week in the dry season! The smile on her face grew bigger as she repeated the phrase, in the dry season! Monika s pride in her farm, her work, and growth of her produce business is palpable. She s become well respected both within her family and as a role model in her community. And she now keeps her farm green all year long growing crops and earning money, especially in the dry season. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 6

8 PRODUCT INTELLIGENCE & DEVELOPMENT In FY16, KickStart s Nairobi-based product design team focused on the development of two new irrigation solutions that will expand our MoneyMaker product line: a low cost solar-powered pump and a very low cost human-powered pump, the Starter Pump. KickStart will launch a market test for the Starter Pump market in Kenya in July Extensive preparations for the market launch were completed during Q4, including the recruitment of two temporary Starter Pump Sales Assistants and the production of a final batch of market-ready pump prototypes. The second FY16 product development goal was to design, lab and field test a low-cost, solar-powered pump and KickStart has now developed several prototype models. The team lab-tested a wide range of promising pump options to incorporate into the solar-powered irrigation solution before identifying a particular brushless pump from China, which has several functional advantages: The pump is submersible, it has very few replaceable parts that could entail recurring costs for farmers, and it operates at a higher efficiency than all pumps tested that were within the targeted cost range. At the same time, in pursuit of an even more affordable solar-powered pump with a similar efficiency and the same functional advantages, KickStart continued working with a leading company manufacturing encapsulated brushless dc motor pumps and explored how their technology could be incorporated into a robust, portable, submersible solar-powered water pump. With support from USAID s Powering Agriculture Grand Challenge for Development, our partner recruited an experienced team of designers to work with KickStart s PID team throughout the product design cycle. During Q4, we also recruited another high caliber partner to contribute to the effort the designers of the world s most efficient fans, turbines and water mixers, who will focus their expertise on the solar-powered pump s impeller design. To further reduce the upfront cost for farmers to adopt one of the solar-powered pumps under development, KickStart also continued experimenting with and refining the hardware and software to enable pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing options. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 7

9 IMPACT MONITORING In April, KickStart s Impact Monitoring team convened focus group discussions (FGDs) among farmers who had bought MoneyMaker pumps in Mali and Burkina Faso. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the experiences of farmers who have adopted irrigation and their attitudes around its applications and benefits. Participating farmers sentiments very closely echoed the findings from KickStart s various quantitative impact assessments. The FGDs reinforced the positive impacts of irrigation on food security, income generation, both from irrigated crops and diversified farming businesses, and overall wellbeing. A total of 160 individual farmers participated in 20 FGDs, each comprised of either men or women so as to remove the influence of gender dynamics on groups feedback. Using an open-ended interview tool to guide discussion, KickStart s Impact Evaluation and Monitoring Manager facilitated the FGDs with the assistance of three graduate students and one member of KickStart s field team in Mali. 99% of the participants are actively using their pumps. On average, they had been using a MoneyMaker pump to irrigate their farms for four years, during which time their income from irrigated farming increased significantly as a result of both increased yields and the ability to plant more crop cycles. Nearly all participants acknowledged that their households adoption of irrigation had helped to ensure its food security and good nutrition. Farmers described several different pathways through which irrigation had impacted their household food security beyond supporting year-round food production. Many of them commented that the pumps increased their yield of irrigated produce, which in turn increased their income. They used this additional income to buy major staple foods and/or inputs, such as fertilizers, for growing staple crops themselves in greater quantity or quality. A large number of participating farmers acknowledged how increased income from irrigation created opportunities for reinvesting in their farming businesses. The majority reported buying livestock as an investment and even described livestock as their preferred method for saving money in the absence of financial service institutions in the rural areas. The increased income earned through the farmers adoption of MoneyMaker pumps also promoted additional life improvements: Men and women alike reported positive impacts on their overall wellbeing. These improvements (which are listed in order from greatest to least in terms of the number of participants who mentioned them) included the ability to: build or improve housing structures; purchase new assets; send children to school; and afford medical services. The experiences and impacts noted across the FGDs represent a sustainable path out of poverty that starts with a MoneyMaker pump. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 8

10 MAJOR CHALLENGES At the close of the first full year under KickStart s new strategy, MoneyMaker pumps are available to farmers in 16 countries across the continent, many of which are new markets. Actualizing the strategic plan s expanded geographic focus over the course of FY16 uncovered many exciting opportunities and, like all new things, several challenges. In Southern Africa, uncertainties in advance of this year s general election year in Zambia slowed the national economy and, subsequently, the adoption of MoneyMaker pumps. In the surrounding region however, more than 10,000 pumps were adopted by farming families. The limited availability of foreign exchange and volatility of local currencies in a number ofcountriesalsomadeitchallengingforpartnersanddistributorstosecure MoneyMaker pumps. In Nigeria and Ethiopia, two new priority countries, there was demand for irrigation that could not be met because of dramatic depreciation of the Naira in Nigeria and restrictions on the amount of foreign exchange permitted to leave Ethiopia. One major takeaway was that political and economic challenges periodically arise in many African countries and having a presence in more of them can help offset these risks. Targeting more farmers in more geographies ensures continued impacts in stable priority countries in the event that it becomes too difficult or dangerous to work in others. FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 9

11 HUMAN RESOURCES KickStart continued aligning its global staffing structure with the new strategic plan, a year-long and ongoing effort. The organization s new sales model has significant implications in terms of human resources, many of which have been discussed in previous reports this year. In Q4, we made several key hires to continue facilitating this transition. The Country Manager in Zambia was replaced by a newly recruited Regional Head of Partnerships and Sales for all of Southern Africa who leads a smaller, more highlyskilled team dedicated to developing and deepening partnerships in Zambia and the surrounding countries. In Kenya, a Country Partnership and Sales Manager was recruited in order for the Country Director to fully focus on marketing innovations in his newly defined role as Director of Innovations. KickStart closed the first full year under its new strategy with all regional leadership positions filled and its global staff better positioned to serve the expanded geography and successfully implement the complex, partnership-based sales on which KickStart is now focused. FUNDRAISING KickStart raised more philanthropic funding in FY16 than in any of the previous four fiscal years, despite the fact that several positions were vacant for the better part of the year. The total amount raised in new gifts and pledges in FY16 represented a 14% increase over the total raised in FY15, and we would like to thank all of our donors for their tremendous support! The team welcomed a new Director of Key Relationships in June, a strategic hire that has enhanced the capacity and dynamism of the team and its ability to support the organization s ambitious plans for growth in the coming years. The end of FY16 also marked the first anniversary of the Evergreen Circle, KickStart s recurring giving program. Since launching this initiative in May, 2015, the number of individuals who make recurring gifts to KickStart has increased by 40% and the amount of funding committed by Evergreen Circle members has increased by close to 10X. NEW COMMITMENTS Anonymous: $300,000 over 3 years John Deere Foundation: $125,000 Greater Impact Foundation: $100,000 FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 10

12 FY16 REPORT - KICKSTART INTERNATIONAL page 11