NAIROBI, KENYA—I recently was in the United States for a business plan competition (in which we placed second! Whoop Whoop!). And it was the first time that I experienced culture shock in the United States. I felt so out of place. I kept thinking “I must be doing something wrong, I must be breaking some rule.”

First of all, everyone drives on the wrong side of the street in the US. Second, when I get to a cross walk there are literally, tons of signs. Walk. Don’t Walk. No U Turns. Stop on Red. School Zone. One Way. Then there are zebra crossings on the road and the people around me seem to know that there are certain times when one should be on the zebra crossings and when not to.

Then there are things called speed limits in the US. And my passengers would tell me things like, “Kyle you know it is a 65 MPH zone, don’t you?” Yes, but what does that mean? Should I go 65? Or 105? And what is a mile anyways?

See in Kenya it is much easier and I hope that the US might one-day advance to the level of Kenya. If the policeman says “Go” you go. If the policeman says “Stop” you go. Easy, see? If there are no cars coming you walk across the street. If there are cars coming, you walk across the street. See how beautiful that is? I was in DC and I put one toe on the street when a car was coming and nearly caused an accident the way the driver hit the brakes. Ridiculous.

And when I go to Famous Footwear and want to buy a pair of shoes can I negotiate for better deal? Can I get it for half price if I trade in the ones I am wearing? And if the clerk behind the counter looks nice and a little hungry, will he take offense if I offer him half of my banana? Do you see how complicated the US is? Do you see how COM PLI CA TED it is!  When I wanted new curtains for my apartment, I took the old ones down and traded them in for a better price than I bought them for.

Simple is beautiful.

Now let me quiz you so you can see how complicated you are:

Question 1: If you are stuck in traffic and the lane going the other way is largely clear you should

1. Wait all day in your lane behind a bunch of other cars that aren’t moving or
2. Drive down the lane that people in the US would term the “wrong way”

The right answer is b. Duh!

Question 2: If you park your car outside of a club at night and the boy on the street implies that he will key your car if you don’t pay him 50 cents you should

1. Take him to the police station, wait for 2 hours for the policeman to finish his beer and pay 2 dollars for a police abstract and 1 dollar for submission fee or
2. Give the boy 50 cents.

The US is so complicated. People in the US are more “free” and yet they can do less. Let me say this: I am glad I am back in Kenya. At least I can be sure that when a taxi driver says the fare is $6, I know it is $3. It’s soooo simple! Do you see what I mean yet?

KIAMBU, KENYA— We just opened our first retail space in Kiambu, centrally located to our clients.  This will give everyone in the local villages a chance to see biogas lamps and stoves in action and have their questions answered. Please join us in welcoming Esther, our store manager, to the Takamoto team! We will have an official opening ceremony the first week of May, but we just couldn’t wait to open the shop. It is located across the street from the OiLibya petrol station and is open from 9am-5pm on weekdays and 9am-1pm on Saturdays. We hope to see you there soon!

And for a glimpse into what it takes to open a shop from the visionary himself…

By Graham Benton

Starting a store is something that I had never done before. It is something that I had never even thought of before and yet today, it is something I have done. I can say I have opened not only a store, but the first store for a company in Africa.

When Kyle and I started looking at the numbers and trying to see what we wanted the store to look like, we looked at some of the most successful retail stores in the world: Apple. After hemming and hawing for a few hours, it was funny to sit back and think that we were comparing what I was about to do, turn ⅓ of a shipping container into a retail and information center, with the multi-million dollar stores that Steve Jobs took months to plan and design. I was going to do it in one month, start to finish. We set out to make a shop that we could use as a “please touch museum” and a place for people to learn.

It was fun to be a mzungu (white person) painting, cutting, welding and sanding in the store. Kids would come and stick their heads in with wonder, running away and laughing when I noticed them or said “Jambo!” (hello) There seemed to be a glow of awareness around the “painting mzungu”. People would call to me “Takamoto!” waving me over to ask about what I did. Introducing themselves and asking me to hire them or paint their shops. When I later went around and handed out flyers to feed and grain stores in Kiambu, people recognized me and asked me about the store or laughed when I said that I was the mzungu who had been building a shop.

With a few finishing touches still to go, this is Takamoto’s first retail space that I planned, designed and built. I also hired a great new member to the team, Esther, who lives in Kiambu and is becoming the newest biogas specialist. Takamoto Biogas is now not only the company you call to have your biogas questions answered, but also the company you can visit to ask questions, see and touch the biogas appliances, receive personalized advice on how to implement biogas on your own farm and collaborate to arrange trainings for your community on what biogas could mean for them.

Stay tuned for our opening ceremony with the local leaders in early May

Takamoto Biogas takes second  place in the William James Foundation social entrepreneur business plan competition for the idea phase!  Congratulations to the entire Takamoto team.  This weekend was the third and final round of a process that began last October.  Takamoto will  receive cash and in-kind prizes totalling of about $15,000.

Washington, DC–Kyle Schutter represented Takamoto Biogas Ltd. as a finalist in the William James Business Plan Competition and took home second place out of a field of one hundred companies that applied. Takamoto also won the the Enjuba young entrepreneur award for companies whose top management is under 28 years old. More news to follow shortly. http://www.williamjamesfoundation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=1339

NAIROBI—Big news!  We just learned that Kyle and Takamoto Biogas made it to the final round of the William James Foundation social entrepreneur business plan competition in the Idea-Phase (as compared to the Venture Phase — maybe next year).  This is very exciting for us to have Takamoto’s business plan and mission acknowledged this way.  WJF is a highly respected and fabulous organization who supports entrepreneurs that are addressing the triple bottom line—profit, people and planet, and we are honored at the recognition.  

It’s an exciting time in the office these days.  We are building relationships with a number of new financial organizations, giving lots of presentations to potential customers and interviewing potential new staff.  Graham was busy last week painting our first retail space up country.  It’s not very big but it gives our sales team and Field managers a home base plus gives us a local presence with the farmers.  Additionally, we are researching development of a non-profit joint venture to aid in training and R&D for Takamoto— details to follow in coming months.

Kyle will be headed back to the States in April to give his presentation with the other finalists at the WJF offices.  Thanks to everyone for their contributions and for their moral support as we grow Takamoto and help rural Kenyan farmers improve the quality of their lives while taking care of the planet.