Hey Everyone!

It's really great to see that so many of you are so engaged and eager to know when you will get your hands on a WakaWaka Power+   (please note the limited edition ´plus´ for 25% extra battery capacity. These days we really have our hands full with logistics and fulfillment. All together we´re shipping out over 8,000 Powers with various accessories, some with names, some with a WakaWaka Light enclosed, all of them with waterproof pouches. It´s quite some organization, but ... we have professionals handling this actually, since we want to limit the room for error to a minimum.

The Powers are coming in in batches. The first batch already arrived last Monday, so we were able to ship some out already. Now we´re also receiving accessories, so we can start making different packages. Currently a batch for EUROPE and REST OF THE WORLD (outside of North America) has been held up by UPS at Dutch customs, since we´re shipping those from the Netherlands. We expect these to be delivered to our fulfillment partner tomorrow (Friday) but it will be a tough one to get those out still the same day. So if you live outside of North America, you may encounter some delay

DELIVERY EXPECTATIONS

It is always dangerous to try to give precise delivery dates, since we depend on third parties, who in general keep their promises, but not always (as we´re noticing now with UPS...). But, let me give you our best estimate at the moment.

- USA/Canada : fulfillment has started and first units are expected to go out on Friday, more will go out during the days after the weekend. Give it a few days for them to get to your doorstep.

- Europe : although some have gone out already, the bulk is delayed, so we will start shipping coming Tuesday/Wednesday. European deliveries may take up to 4 working days

- Asia, Pacific, Africa, South America, Middle East: since orders from these corners of the world were quite substantial, we had to use economy service, with a track & trace though and ensured shipping, but deliveries may take as long as 10 working days. So although we start shipping out coming week, pls hold your horses until the end of May.    

If your order has not arrived within let´s say a week from above expectations, than chances are it got stolen or lost in the mail. It may happen to app. 2 or 3%, mostly exotic and remote locations though. In that case let us know. We´ll check what happened and fix it for you.

UPDATES

Since many of you are so very excited, we will be posting more updates next week to keep you posted on progress.

POWER FAMILY & GIFT BOX

It is my pleasure to introduce to you: WakaWaka Power in the exclusive color which we like to call ´KICKSTARTER GREEN´. check out the WakaWaka Gathering and the packaging design. It won´t be long now before you can show off the worlds most efficient & compact solar power station & light to friends and family!

Ok ´nuff said for today. I will be in touch after the weekend. And sincerely hope you appreciated the update again ;-)

Warm wishes,

Camille

Hi Everyone,

We will start shipping May 15th!
Sending out the more than 7.000 packages to backers worldwide on the same day. It was quite a challenge so we are all really happy that we will be making the original shipping date promised to you. Expect your WakaWaka Powers to arrive in the days following the 15th, but please note that the exact day depends on how far away you're located from one of two shipping points in the US or the Netherlands.

Online sales
I would like to apologize for anyone who feels offended by the fact that a limited number of WakaWaka Powers has become available online this week. Allow me to explain. We have offered our backers a 25% extra battery capacity, the maximum available capacity our supplier is capable of delivering within the available dimensions of the WakaWaka Power, and custom build for this backer model only.
That explains why the retail version of the WakaWaka Power (with the regular 2200 mAh capacity battery) was finished a little earlier. We are now testing the online market with a limited number of this retail version (at Fab.com and next up Amazon). It is not anywhere near the thousands of units ordered by you guys. But if successful, we may expect a lot more from them, and therefore do more good for those around the world without electricity. I hope you understand that we had to jump on this opportunity. As to the price of the WakaWaka Power online, once again, as a backers you are getting much, much, more value for your money than retail costumers. We try our utmost to maintain a minimum advertising price, but we have to allow for some flexibility with regard to promotions, and it is actually illegal to enforce a universal end user price.

Power to Syrian Refugees
I would also like to share some related news with you. Last December we were approached by a major international emergency relief organization (which name I am not at liberty to share at this point, but they are well known and respected). They asked us how soon we could fast track production for some 5,000 WakaWaka Powers for Syrian refugees, on the run for full fledged civil war and the ensuing desperate humanitarian crisis. Recently these units landed in the South of Turkey and have by now finally found their way to 5.000 Syrian families, providing light and power, keeping them safe, enabling them to read, and charge their mobile phones so they can get in touch with lost family members. I sincerely hope you take no offence in the fact that we did everything within our power to utilize the maximum of the preliminary production capacity for this special and most urgent request. In the beginning of a new production run, capacity is usually limited since workers need to get routines down. We are very proud to be able to share this with you since it was your support that has enabled us to do this.

Haiti
The support of all our backers and the massive success of the 'buy one, give one' crowdfunding campaign (and pre-sales on getwakawaka.com) has resulted in over 12.000 WakaWaka Lights for Haitian families living without electricity. A masterplan on the distribution of these free Lights in Haiti is beginning to take shape. Read more about Haiti here.

As for myself, I have been travelling around these past weeks talking to the UN, UN Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative and BilionRising.org about putting WakaWaka further on the global map and therefore neglected you guys a bit. I will be around! So do feel free to approach me with any questions you might have. Your Powers are nearly there!

Warm wishes and talk soon,

Camille

the photos bellow show the arrival of the 5.000 WakaWaka Powers at the southern border of Turkey and some of the first WakaWaka Lights finding their way to students in Haiti

Dear backers!

As you are all desperately waiting for your WakaWaka Power to arrive (I can imagine why, the first prototypes are awesome), we are getting close to shipping the more than 7.000 packages containing your WakaWaka Powers. Getting there was quite an operation, but we can now confirm we will be making the promised shipping date next month!

To make sure these packages arrive on time, at the right address and with the right content, we have sent you a confirmation e-mail this week (3rd of April). For those of you who haven't done so already, please check it out and follow the instructions.

Have a great weekend!

Warm wishes,

Camille

PS. Here's a sneak preview of one of the first WakaWaka-customized waterproof pouches!

Time for an update on the production of the WakaWaka Power, distribution of the donated Lights to Haiti and the shipment of your rewards. 

Production on scedule

With the testing phase behind us, production of the WakaWaka Power is right on schedule. We have now started producing the 'Powers' in large quantities, so if all goes well, we’ll be able to send you your rewards in May. Just as planned. 

Distribution in Haiti

The support of all our backers and the massive success of the 'buy one, give one' crowdfunding campaign (and pre-sales on getwakawaka.com) has resulted in 12.000 WakaWaka Lights for Haitian families living without electricity. A masterplan on the distribution of these free Lights in Haiti is beginning to take shape. We've reached an agreement with a total of 22 small, medium sized and larger NGO’s that will be helping us to distribute the lamps in such a way that maximum impact will be realized. Full-scale distributions is planned to start in June and we’ll be traveling there ourselves to make sure the lights get to where they are needed the most. If you want to know more about Haiti and the donated solar lights check our website. 

Ready to confirm your pledge?

In the upcoming weeks we’ll send you a confirmation of your pledge. If you have changes to make to your mailing address, please do so after you received this confirmation. 

Below a sneak preview of one of the first batches of test models waiting for the sun to rise at WakaWaka HQ :)

Wow, time flies! It’s been two weeks since the end of the Kickstarter project and we've been working very hard on the production of the WakaWaka Power for our backers and the realisation of the donation of the WakaWaka Lights to Haiti. 

WakaWaka Power production

I'm writing to you from China where I'm visiting the WakaWaka factories. It's great so see the place where the WakaWaka Power will be manufactured and meet the people who are in charge of the process here. We've discussed every little detail regarding the production process, schedule and quality demands. The photo below gives you an idea of how that went. The first Power samples will be finished by the end of February so we can test them thoroughly and guarantee you the best quality. After that we can get the assembly line rolling and start full-scale production! 

WakaWaka Lights and Haiti

The WakaWaka Lights that are meant for donation are awaiting to be shipped to Haiti. At the moment we're preparing everything that is needed for the first steps of assembling in Haiti; location, logistics and local management are being discussed with partners on the ground. We expect to ship the WakaWaka Lights this spring. I’ll keep you all posted on all further developments in the upcoming weeks. 

Get your WakaWaka Power 

Meanwhile, we've set up a pre-sale of the WakaWaka Power. This means that even though the crowdfunding has finished, early adopters can still be among the first to receive a Power via our pre-order webshop getwakawaka.com. So, if you told your friends, family and colleagues about that Solar Power Station & Light you ordered, just redirect them to getwakawaka.com to pre-order theirs today! 

And the winner is...

And last but not least, I can announce the final results of the color votes! From the 275 votes the majority went to the color: GREEN!! We counted all votes from our FB page (comments and the poll) and in the Kickstarter commentboxes so we wouldn't miss out on a single vote. Want to know how many votes the color of your choice got? View the graph below. 

In a couple of weeks we'll be in contact to confirm your pledge and reward and ask for your preferred color (yellow, black or green) and shipping address. 

Warm wishes,

Camille