Annette is a ReadySet entrepreneur who works with the Grameen Foundation AppLab as a Community Knowledge Worker.  Grameen gave the ReadySet to Annette through an affordable micro-loan, and she can now operate a micro-utility business by charging mobile phones and no longer has to use dangerous and costly kerosene lamps. Anette was able to earn enough income to be able to pay back the investment of the ReadySet in 3-4 months. She uses this additional income to better provide for her family.

It's been one week since the category 2 Hurricane Irene hit the tropics and spiraled up the East Coast. It’s strength did diminish into a category one hurricane as it ripped up the coastline, but the devastation it left behind, although not as bad as expected, was still tremendous. 

Fenix has moved to a new location at 3101 20th St. in San Francisco, California. It's a beautiful building that we are happy to call our new home.

Congrats to our friends over at Grameen who are featured in this article by Deobrah Bassett for Huffington Post! Fenix is excited to be supplying Grameen CKWs with ReadySet kits to charge smartphones. [Link to Grameen Blog Post]

In Uganda, smartphones are being used to help farmers get access to more agricultural information, through conversation with one another and applications on the phones. The Grameen Foundation's Application Laboratory (aka AppLab) created an app for its Community Knowledge Workers (CKW), called CKW search. It's an application that informs farmers about crop failure, pests, weather and more. This helps farmers to take precautions and also determines where to invest their money. 

by SmartPlanet -  San Francisco start-up Fenix International has developed the ReadySet, a lead-acid based battery, housed in a safe, leak-resistant plastic casing that has plug-in adapters on the exterior shell. The battery can power multiple lights and electronics at the same time. To recharge the battery, users can pedal on a stationary bike, use a mini-solar panel that comes with the battery, or use existing nearby electricity. The ReadySet costs $150 before shipping.

It has been three months since the devastating earthquakes and tsunami hit Japan. Many Japanese companies, including Toyota Motor Corp, have recovered since the earthquake. However, some towns are recovering at a slower pace due to delays in allocation for money by centralized government.

Fenix and our partners believe that very careful consideration must be taken when accepting donations and providing humanitarian aid.

Please see below for more information about our efforts and we welcome your feedback.

It's hard to imagine what life might be like after such a powerful earthquake and tsunami. We've compiled a short list of articles and excerpts to try and help us better understand the what is happening half a world away. 

Dear All,

My heart goes out to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My team at Fenix and I are deeply moved by the compassion and heroic efforts of the citizens of Japan, the thousands of the relief workers, and the millions of individual donors contributing from around the world. On behalf of Fenix International, I would like to make a humble contribution to the global relief efforts by supplying ReadySet Solar kits to relief agencies serving on the ground in Japan.

This NPR article presents an overview of the stoves program at Aprovecho in Oregon, and mentions the enormous scale required: a need for 500-600 million cookstoves is estimated. Fenix similarly is working hard to scale its energy solutions for the 1.5 billion without electricity.