Action plan

The Adopt a Stove Foundation envisions to smoothen the successful introduction of the Chula, by subsidising half of the price of the Chula. The average price is estimated to be €12,-. You can ADOPT A STOVE now for €6,- and help to improve the health of an Indian family. Next to the option to adopt a stove directly via us, we will shortly enable the option to adopt a stove when buying a kitchen – thereby you thus buy a stove for an Indian family when buying your own.

The design, the production process and the relevant production materials of the Chula are all released by Philips Design; our Indian partner, the local NGO ´Erin Foundation´, will start with the production and sales of the Chula’s in the Indian state of Karnataka. This is a non-for-profit activity, where only initially a small part of profits will be generated and used for the up-scaling of the production (i.e. reinvestment). Moreover, the Erin Foundation is determined to up-scale the production and assist local engineers in setting up their own production companies.

Distribution and Sales are nurtured mostly by local Indian women in the villages. These women are often organised through Self Help Groups (acronym SHG). These groups normally exist of a maximum of 20 women who are used to working together on mostly financial activities such as savings (microfinance). Moreover, many women within these groups are familiar with functioning as an ‘agent’ to sell products within the village. The Chula’s will thus be distributed in a similar way, to ensure the familiarity with the Chula’s in the rural areas and villages.

In the long run, the Adopt the Stove Foundation assumes that the subsidisation of the Chula’s will be made redundant. A dynamic market will arise existing of small, local producers, distributors and well-informed consumers. The goal of the Adopt a Stove Foundation is to subsidise 250.000 stoves within the first five years of production (2013). In the first year, 2009, we aim to subsidise a minimum of 1000 Chula’s; a number we agreed upon with our local partner. Furthermore we hope to increase our production levels every year together with our partner and newly arising local entrepreneurs who will be supported technically to start up the production.