Revenue playbook
Six ways to make money with a light and a filter.
The product is the easy part. These are the operating models buyers actually use: what it costs, what it earns, how long the cash takes and where it goes wrong. Figures are planning numbers, not a price list.
Choose by capital and cash cycle
The same hardware, six different businesses.
A contractor with a crew and a municipal contact should not run a water route. A shop with working capital should not bid a road. Pick the model that matches the money you can leave in the ground.
Model 01 · Supply and install
Municipal road retrofit
Win a district road-lighting package, quote per pole, ship in the installation sequence and hand over with a night audit.
- Working capital
- USD 60k-110k
- Gross margin
- 15-22%
- Cash cycle
- 90-150 days
Model 02 · Stock and sell
Distributor and retail network
Import a mixed container, put a demo unit in the shop and earn the spread between landed cost and dealer price.
- Container budget
- USD 75k-105k
- Blended margin
- 25-35%
- Stock turns
- About 2 per year
Model 03 · Assemble in-country
SKD local assembly
Import housings, boards, batteries and panels, assemble and test locally, and sell as a domestic manufacturer.
- Setup cost
- USD 25k-45k
- Margin uplift
- 35-45% vs finished import
- Payback
- 6-10 months
Model 04 · Sell water by the litre
Community water station
Put a 300 L/h RO station in a market, school or compound and sell 20-litre barrels through a card or QR code.
- Capex per station
- USD 5.5k-8k
- Net margin
- 65-78%
- Payback
- 7-14 months
Model 05 · Donor and ESG packages
Solar and water bundle
Bundle lights with a water point and sell one fundable package to a donor, a CSR budget or a municipal programme.
- Package size
- USD 12k-30k
- Gross margin
- 18-25%
- Cycle
- 60-120 days
Model 06 · Own the asset, sell the light
Lighting as a service
Keep ownership of the luminaires and charge a monthly fee per pole, with maintenance included, over five to seven years.
- Capex per pole
- USD 350-450
- Fee
- USD 9-12 per pole/month
- Payback
- 36-48 months
Worked examples
Two calculators, no login.
Move the numbers to your market. The output is arithmetic, not a forecast: it does not know your customs officer, your collection rate or your landlord.
Road package
Supply and install, per project.
Cash needed assumes the full landed cost is paid before the first milestone.
Water station
Sell 20-litre barrels, one station.
Payback is capex divided by net per day, in months of 30 days. It ignores financing cost and seasonality.
Side by side
Which model fits which buyer.
Read the cash column first. A 44% margin on an assembly line is worth less than a 15% margin on a road if you cannot fund the container.
| Model | Capital | Gross margin | Cash cycle | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal road retrofit | USD 60k-110k | 15-22% | 90-150 days | Contractors and trading companies with a municipal contact and an installation crew. |
| Distributor and retail network | USD 75k-105k | 25-35% | About 2 per year | Importers with a shop, a warehouse and three to ten dealer relationships. |
| SKD local assembly | USD 25k-45k | 35-45% vs finished import | 6-10 months | Partners with 100-300 m2, stable power, three to eight technicians and a customs registration. |
| Community water station | USD 5.5k-8k | 65-78% | 7-14 months | Operators with a secure site, a feed-water source and one attendant. |
| Solar and water bundle | USD 12k-30k | 18-25% | 60-120 days | Contractors and NGOs that can write a one-page proposal and account for it afterwards. |
| Lighting as a service | USD 350-450 | USD 9-12 per pole/month | 36-48 months | Operators with access to finance, a maintenance van and a client that pays monthly. |
Planning figures in USD. Confirm current product pricing before you commit to a tender or a lease.
Playbook questions
Answers before you write.
Where do these numbers come from?
From our own quotations and from the operating records of the programmes on the case pages. They are planning figures, not audited results, and they exclude your local tax, financing and collection risk.
Can I use the calculator for a tender?
Use it to sanity-check a bid, not to set the bid. Duty, clearing, currency and the site survey move the numbers more than the unit price does.
Which model has the least risk?
The village or clinic package, because the funder pays before or on delivery. The road contract has the largest ticket and the longest cash cycle; lighting as a service has the longest payback and the highest collection risk.
Do you finance any of these models?
No. We supply against a deposit and can introduce you to freight forwarders and inspection agents, but the working capital is yours or your bank's.
Tell us which model you are running.
Send your market, your capital and the site. We will tell you which model fits, what the landed cost looks like and where the plan is thin.