The Philippine business of St. Louis, Missouri-based Energizer Holdings will use the Philippines to test the viability of its hand-held solar-powered LED lanterns and bulbs via a corporate social-responsibility project.
Todd Montgomerie, president of Energizer Philippines, told reporters, however, that they could not say when the company that makes primary batteries and portable flashlights and lanterns would “fully commercialize” the products that they’re going to donate to poor families in five provinces.
The Philippines is the first country in Southeast Asia that Energizer would introduce the product—composed of two solar panels in white plastic frame and a red 12-inch high lantern.
“We’re dealing with a lot of uncertainties here. We’re still not sure how long it will take for the poor target market to adopt the product; how long they would save up for it. My personal guess is it would take a year before we get really reliable feedback; before we get confident in finalizing the design and take it to market,” Montgomerie told the BusinessMirror after a press briefing on the distribution of some 2,750 units that would take until May.
Montgomerie said during the briefing that they have begun selling the units in South Africa in November last year.
However, all the units to be distributed in Mindoro, Kalinga Apayao, Mountain Province, Eastern Samar and Rizal, beginning this month, were imported from the United States. Each costs P1,500 or about a total of P4.125 million.
The project, in partnership with the group One Million Lights Philippines (OMLP), aims to distribute the units to areas that have no electricity or have households relying on kerosene.
OMLP spokesman Mark Benjamin Lozano said each family of five spends about P30 for kerosene every day or about P900 (about $30) a month.
Citing data from several sources, Energizer Holdings said in a statement that “kerosene lamps are often a costly and dangerous lighting solution for rural families.”
“Many spend up to half of their income on the kerosene, even though it provides inadequate illumination. Kerosene is also responsible for 1.5 million deaths from burns and respiratory illnesses annually—62 percent of which are children. Further, each kerosene lamp emits more than 100 [kilogram] of carbon every year, adding up to 190 million tons of global carbon emissions annually.”
Still, Montgomerie emphasized that it was OMLP that chose the areas where the lighting units will be distributed.
“We did not intentionally choose them because of distribution levels. We opted to work with OMLP because we saw what they’re doing is a good fit with our brand. And every time we can marry our brand with something as noble as that, we take it.”
Montgomerie, who worked in South Africa for a decade before taking up the helm of Energizer Philippines two months ago, noted that the company has good distribution levels in the country, just like South Africa.
“We believe we have a good future for our business here. We see the [local] economy variably should continue to grow ahead of global expectations.”
Montgomerie’s entry and the CSR project came six months after the company ceased its carbon-zinc product facility in Cebu in September last year.
In its 2011 annual report, Energizer said the closure of its plants in Cebu and Switzerland was part of “the restructuring of our battery manufacturing operations” which cost the company $79 million, most of which was related to manufacturing capacity rationalization.”
“The restructuring improves our positioning in a market with declining unit sales and intensifying competition. It is expected to generate annual savings estimated at $30 million to $35 million by the end of fiscal 2012, improve our productivity and capacity utilization, and create a simpler business model.”
Hence, Montgomerie said he cannot say when Energizer would commercialize the products it would distribute to the five Philippine provinces.
“Another aspect to this is we’re dealing with global production plans. And once we understand the feedback from the market then we have to take variables into account, such as if there is a global demand and that our suppliers are up to it. So there is a time period for that.”
Lozano said that OMLP would charge beneficiaries between P30 to P300 per unit for the use of the product.
Energizer Philippines executives said that a five-hour charging of the unit directly under the sun would provide five hours of light.
They added that a unit could last up to a decade if properly used.
