Logistics, Logistics, Logistics by Alex Pell

The next step in our project was to get an estimated cost of all the equipment, withdraw the money, and purchase the equipment. Because bartering is such a big part of buying anything in Malagasy markets, Feno and I decided that it would be best if I stayed at home for the days that they went out to get an appraisal and buy the items in order to save money. This was because we had learned that if vendors saw that Feno or the other NGO members were with a white foreigner, they would instantly increase their prices. Luckily, the NGO had an electrician who knew the best places to look for quality and lowest prices.

The next day, the electrician came back with great news – all of the materials we needed (Panel, wires, light bulb, light switches) could be bought locally for about 2million ariary (around $700 dollars), and he even met someone with much more experience in solar than us who made sure we knew how to assemble everything properly.

With our estimated prices, I thought the hard part of buying the goods was over. Little did I know, withdrawing the money would be a lot more difficult than I had expected. We made multiple phone calls and ended up going to 4 different banks across Tana before we were finally able to withdraw the money.

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Welcome to the UC Davis Blum Center Blog!

Here you will find updates on our organization, and blog posts written by each of our Blum Fellows about their experiences abroad. Make sure to check out our website at blumcenter.ucdavis.edu, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCDavisBlumCenter to get regular updates and see our upcoming events.

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UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

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