Develop the Market

To lift as many people out of poverty as possible, KickStart technologies need to be as well known and easily available as commodities such as sewing machines and bicycles that help create businesses.

Our MoneyMaker pumps increase net farm income by 1000% on average. They are a significant investment for the typical small-scale farmer, as much as a quarter of a family's annual income. Our tools can help people make a lot of money, but they will have no impact if people do not know about them or don't understand their value.

KickStart has to spend a lot of time--and the majority of our resources--building awareness, developing sales teams and marketing the MoneyMaker pumps.

We are selling "big ticket" items to risk-averse buyers who have little cash. If a poor person buys a pump and it fails to make him money, his family could go hungry.

Rural customers can be hard to reach. They live miles from the closest village and often miles from the nearest road. They may come to town once a month. They might have a radio, listening when they can afford batteries. They might see a newspaper if someone brings one back from the city.

These are challenges that specific marketing and sales strategies are in place to overcome.

Promises Made. Promises Kept.

"MoneyMaker" is the brand name because that is a poor person's greatest need--a way to make money. We work to ensure that our products live up the name testing and offering a one-year guarantee. If anything goes wrong, the farmer can bring the pump back to the store for a replacement.

Our impact monitoring team visits farmers and sales people often follow up a sale with a visit to the farm to see how the pump is working.

Aspiration and Trust

For many poor Africans, farming has not been a successful way to make money. People dream of success in business and think it means a shop or a job in an office. Farming can be a tough, backbreaking job with not a lot of return. We are changing that perception as thousands of MoneyMaker farmers become prosperous businessmen and women.

More than 91,000 entrepreneurs have created successful businesses with MoneyMaker pumps.

KickStart's comprehensive global marketing campaign built on the message, "Farming is My Business," that links farming with business success. Sales are increasing and awareness of the pumps is creating buzz and more sales opportunities.

We have over 200 sales reps stationed in every major town, transit point and trading center in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali. They demonstrate the pump at retail outlets and organize on-farm demos. Customers won't invest in a pump until they are certain it will work. Community wide pumping competitions gather big crowds and generate excitement and interest.

It is labor intensive, but given the limited marketing channels and very cautious customers, these efforts are effective at creating demand for our pumps.

The good news is that this level of market building does not have to go on forever. Once our pumps are as commonly known as bicycles we can reduce our marketing efforts. Then KickStart will make a profit on each pump sold.