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Bright Lights, No City: An African Adventure on Bad Roads with a Brother and a Very Weird Business Plan
The hilarious story of two brothers, a truckload of batteries, and a brilliant plan to bring light--and new business opportunities--to Ghana
At age 47, Whit Alexander, the American co-founder of the Cranium board game, decided to start a new business selling affordable goods and services to low-income villagers in Ghana, West Africa. His brother Max, a journalist, came alon...more
At age 47, Whit Alexander, the American co-founder of the Cranium board game, decided to start a new business selling affordable goods and services to low-income villagers in Ghana, West Africa. His brother Max, a journalist, came alon...more
Hardcover, 378 pages
Published
July 17th 2012
by Hyperion
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This goes to show how much better it is to bootstrap people in Africa is than to keep giving them charity or setting up programs that work till they are abandoned by the agencies.
Everybody wins in this enterpreneurial gamble to provide rechargeable
batteries to Ghananians who for the most part have no electricity. Cleverly, the entrepeneur rents the batteries, and then charges a fee for the recharge. As the team coalesces, they develop their marketing and services using the mindsets of the people...more
Everybody wins in this enterpreneurial gamble to provide rechargeable
batteries to Ghananians who for the most part have no electricity. Cleverly, the entrepeneur rents the batteries, and then charges a fee for the recharge. As the team coalesces, they develop their marketing and services using the mindsets of the people...more
Bill Gates popularized the notion of "creative capitialism," helping the poor through the demands of the marketplace rather than through hand-outs. It initiated a lot of talk but Whit Alexander goes to Africa to put the idea into practice. Many in Ghana live "off the grid" (without electricity) and rely on cheap throwaway batteries for lighting and listening to the radio. By renting them the use of rechargable batteries, Whit gives the consumer something more cost-effective and environmentally f...more
Jul 17, 2012
Nan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
business students, teachers, investors, book clubs
Recommended to Nan by:
reviewer in Wall Street Journal
Shelves:
business-strategy,
nonfiction
I thoroughly liked this consistently fascinating and funny account of a smart, compassionate entrepreneur committed to starting a battery business in Ghana, Africa. The founder is Whit Alexander, but his brother Max comes along for the ride, which is lucky for us. Max's journalism and sharp eye for the interesting and absurd (to Western eyes) detail makes us want to read all about it.
Whit, a co-inventor of the game Cranium, is convinced that Africa needs businesses that sell effective, essentia...more
Whit, a co-inventor of the game Cranium, is convinced that Africa needs businesses that sell effective, essentia...more
Wonderful writing- a bit filled with facts for PURE entertainment, but that's what makes this book rich - it really takes you past the stereotypes and statistics, and helps picture an africa that is both vibrant, innovative, and persevering..... from the roads along which disconnected telephone lines pass over villages and outposts, to the cities that are crowded- this is an africa I didn't know!
an emerging company!
read first 1/4, scanned the rest and the end during Christmas break....
for a lon...more
an emerging company!
read first 1/4, scanned the rest and the end during Christmas break....
for a lon...more
I really enjoyed this. Full disclosure: I worked for Whit, the 'brother', at Cranium, which is before the events in the book take place, and know some of the other people featured in the book. In any case, it's very well written, an insightful look at the adventures involved in starting a business in Ghana.
Knowing very little about Africa in general, I learned a lot about the culture of Ghana, and how the proliferation of NGOs provides an additional challenge to the Burro team in their efforts t...more
Knowing very little about Africa in general, I learned a lot about the culture of Ghana, and how the proliferation of NGOs provides an additional challenge to the Burro team in their efforts t...more
Whit, the creator of Cranium and his younger brother Max attempt to start up a battery business called Burro in Ghana, Africa. Brother Max does the narrating of the story. The brothers are met with many challenges along the way not the least being the unreliable work ethics of some of their employees as well as their competition, the Chinese made Tiger Head batteries. Still the brothers are determined to persevere because their underlying principle is that it will be better to give the people of...more
Somewhat interesting story.....I was interested in the topics, sustainable business and brothers relationship. The writing was lighthearted storytelling, but not a style I liked very well. It is a book worth skimming, but not much more. It was a weird business plan and they wroked very hard at it. In the end, I don't know if it succeeded because I skimmed the last part of the book.
I really enjoyed this book! I loved the message that doing sustainable, profitable things in Africa far supersedes NGO charity. To think that batteries, disposable batteries and rechargeable batteries play such a crucial, critical role to every day life in Africa! The scenes of Africa were dramatic and fascinating. The people were remarkably portrayed. This is a wonderful book!
Whit Alexander, creator of the Cranium game, attempts to start up a sustainable, profitable battery business in Ghana. Whit was inspired by the "creative capitalism" concept that Bill Gates discusses (helping the poor through a good business model vs. handouts) and found that people in Ghana use a lot of batteries. Whit's journalist brother Max comes along to see how it goes and to spend time with his brother.
The concept was good and the book was interesting in several parts. I just found the ex...more
The concept was good and the book was interesting in several parts. I just found the ex...more
I really enjoyed this look at Ghana, the beginnings of a U.S. start up in Africa and the inherent challenges to success. But just as much, I loved reading about my former boss, Whit Alexander. The author, his brother, does an amazing job of capturing his voice, which brought this whole book to life for me.
This is a great account of the interaction between two American brothers starting a business in Ghana. Alexander did a great job of describing political, economic, social, and cultural facets that influenced the demand for their rechargeable batteries and how those forces affected the market.
This was a really enjoyable book for me - I think anyone who has spent time in Ghana would agree, maybe even those who have visited other West African countries (e.g. Togo, Ivory Coast). I learned some new things - got to ask our son who was adopted from Ghana about eating "Joseph". ;) (Incidentally, he confirmed that "Joseph" really is consumed by people of the Ewe cultural group.)
The author is a journalist so I like that style, he is also witty and that makes the reading fun even if the topic is not always so. A great story about how a few people can make a big difference.
This book makes me want to start a business or pack up and go to Africa, neither of which are things I've wanted to before. It is very interesting and informative to read as well as funny.
Loved this book; a great story of the Alexander brothers, their business adventure (Whit's Burro Battery Brand enterprise) in Ghana and reconneting as brothers. It is an insightful and at times humours look at reconnection for the brothers and connecting a business plan in Ghana to give the poor people some that was tangible and worked.
Great look at what it is like to do business in Ghana. Can a for-profit business help the common man better than an NGO(non-government agency)?
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Enjoyed this book due to love of Africa. Slow in some parts but admire the tenacity of the leader developing a business!
Interesting, humorous, engaging, informative. Well-written but an easy read. I expected it to just be a funny fish-out-of-water travel story, but actually it illustrates important lessons in business and marketing.
Who thought a book about batteries would be this interesting? Inspiring read set in Ghana.
Excellent book about one man's goal to not just help the people in Africa but to make that help sustainable in the form of rechargeable batteries. Definitely a book worth reading.
Alexander's retelling of his time in Ghana with his brother as he starts a business selling battery plans was alternately engaging and dull. I found the cultural information about Ghana very interesting and enjoyed the author's voice, but often counted pages to get through the information regarding his brother's business plan. I'm sure other readers would have found the founding of a business and its challenges in a developing country interesting information in deed, but I felt the only redeemin...more
Well written,very person approach. Great descriptions of life in Ghana and detailed explanations on the trials and tribulations of starting a social enterprise in an African nation.
It was a good book that highlights the importance of an unfulfilled market and the potential to create a very profitable business when you the have right idea. It also highlights the need to adjust as you learn the market needs better.
Max is continuously funny and the book really teaches a lot about what life is like for many in Ghana. Some of the sections were really dry though, notably the copied emails about developing the lanterns.
May 20, 2013
Anne Keerthana
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Jaynevahle
is currently reading it
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