:
This business idea has been thought and launched by myself in 2013 right after my graduation (Master Class degree in civil engineering).
Based on several studies, less than 10% of the Chadian populations are connected to the local electricity system because either there houses are not covered by the national energy network or they do not have financial capability to request this connection. For those who have access to this service, the cost of kWh is high (0.20€) preventing them from the usage of air conditioner. Whereas everyone knows that in this country it’s very hot (>45C sometimes) during some periods of the year.
In the other hands, wastes management is one of the biggest challenges that is facing Chad Government (16 tons of papers/day and 3300 tons of cotton fibers residues/year not being used).
In Chad, most of the buildings/houses are not insulated, leading to either high heat transfer resulting in an increase of the energy consumption.
Your products and services:
In the light of all the issues above, BioPanneaux is created to become an effective and sustainable solution: Manufacturing thermal insulations coating using cotton and papers/cartons wastes, water and lime.
A sorted mixture of wastes of cotton and carton/papers is kneaded with water and lime. We obtain a kind of paste that is dried using sun. The dry final product obtained after drying is packaged in 8kg cartons for sale. The customer will mix this dry coating with water according to dosages and prescription of BioPanneaux and then use it on the interior walls and ceilings of his building, thus ensuring an exceptional thermal and aesthetic comfort in the house.
This concept will help saving energy bill through a minimum power consumption and will lead to the environment protection (limitation of CO2 emission).
The project will also generate additional incomes to the poor and vulnerable people through wastes collection and sorting.
Your success factors:
– Effective raw materials supply chain; – Knowledgeable and motivated team; – A coherent marketing strategy in line with the idea of the project
Your factors differentiating and disruptive compared to the existing:
Our competitive advantages are basically driven by the following:
– Quality of the product (proven by lab of Saint-Etienne in France and ongoing discussions with University of Nantes for additional tests)
– Product cheaper than those offered by the competitors (3€ vs 9€)
– Easy access because locally built
– Easy to use because it does not require much expertise at all
– Generation of additional incomes to poor people through wastes collect and sorting (+23K€/year)
– Contribution to sanitation conditions improvement and environment preservation – Local job creation.
Your business model (how do you make money?)
Our business model is as following:
- Manufacture and sell thermal insulations coating to our main costumers that are:
- NGOs that are building schools and hospitals;
- The Government of Chad through the construction of public buildings;
- Civil works companies;
- Hardware stores;
- Third party.
- A carton of 8kg of BioPanneaux coating price is 3€.
- Production wastes are sold as well. They will be used to bake clay bricks. Currently charcoal is used. But the use of this charcoal is forbidden in Chad because it destroys the environment (abusive tree cutting). 50kg of our production waste cost 2.3€
- Price reduction (3%) will be applied to costumers ordering > 4000kg
- Products will be ordered through our website (under development)
A few words about your competitors:
We mainly have 2 competitors which are French companies: “SATOM Bâtiment” and “Société Moderne de Construction”. They import their products basically from France. Those competitors mostly use the thermal insulation called “laine de verre” (glass wool). But this type of product is very expensive (> 15 euros sometimes). Locally in Chad, there is no significant social, economic or environmental impact, since those products are imported.
People are also using locally a mixture of sand, lime and water to cover the walls of their houses. But this product is not performing from a thermal insulation point of view and does not carry the same socio-economic and environmental impacts as the BioPanneaux solution.
To learn more about you:
Myself:
I’m Civil Engineer by education and currently working with ExxonMobil in Chad as Facilities Engineer, providing day to day technical supports to operations in order to produce every day “safe and profitable” volume of oil. Before joining ExxonMobil, I’ve worked with Total (Chad) as Construction & Maintenance advisor. See attached CV.
Individually, my main distinctions are:
- Laureate of the Writing Contest organized for the fiftieth anniversary of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) with the text: “Francophonie: Mon ardoise de l’Alphabet Français”;
- Mention of the Jury at the 2012 edition of the competition organized by UNESCO on the promotion of socio-professional ethics, with the essay “The super majors: From the virtual to the real?”
BioPanneaux:
Since 2013, BioPanneaux has been recognized through several national and international Business Plan development competitions:
- July 2016: Creative Business Challenge (CBC) Chad 2016 2nd winner;
- May 2016: Startup by TOTAL Tchad competition 2nd winner;
- June 2015: African Business Club (ABC) Innovation Contest winner, Social Impact Category;
- March 2015: Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), French Final Round Participation
- To learn more about BioPanneaux, please go through our website (in development): http://biopanneaux.esy.es/.
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