Stakeholders

VEV's main market is to repair the wind pumps installed by an Italian NGO, LVIA. Thus far LVIA has installed 130 wind pumps in Senegal. There is no other direct competition and, since LVIA has decided to install wind pumps, there is no alternative competition for the moment. In addition, Alizés St. Louis is another international NGO that also installs wind pumps in Senegal and VEV has been contracted for new installation and follow-up repairs.

The communities and their appointed water management system also play an important role for VEV. It is the communities that directly benefit from the wind pumps and ultimately drive the demand. If they no longer require increased water access, then demand for wind pumps will drop. Additionally, if the management structure does not effectively manage the funds collected by the community members, then there will not be enough funds for repairs when needed. This directly impacts VEV's main business.

The national government also plays a role. Both the Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Energy have some impact on the adoption of wind pumps through the policies that they pass, though until now their impact has been limited. The National and Local state tax collectors have, however, a major impact on the success of the enterprise. The lead entrepreneur named them as the stakeholder with the largest potential to hurt their enterprise because the rates that they demand are too high for the enterprise to pay and still make any profit.

The employees and management are a very important part of the enterprise. The company is quite small, with only 3 permanent staff and 5 temporary staff. Despite this, almost every staff person interviewed listed the aptitude of the staff as one of the top strengths of the company.

UNEP, ENDA and other investors have a medium level of influence on VEV. They have provided financial assistance, but none of the loans have been very large and most of the assistance has ended. Currently there are no other investors.