Due to post-war inflation, Toshio was concerned that his start-up money of 1.2 million yen would quickly disappear. So his immediate priority was to accumulate more capital. His first job involved producing desk lamps for the Allied Forces. For the stands, he used wood scraps from Matsushita's shipbuilding plant and for shades, he used silk cloth from the wings of wood planes. He showed a sample to a government-run procurement agency and succeeded in getting a contract to deliver lamps to the Allied Forces' military camp. He then produced battery-operated lights for home use. Since blackouts were common, they proved to be extremely popular. However, Toshio knew that both products were limited in terms of growth. When he had acquired what he believed to be enough capital, Toshio felt it was time to initiate full-fledged business activities. The headlights of a car proved to be the inspiration behind Toshio's next venture. As the bicycle was the main mode of transport at the time, Toshio came up with the idea to manufacture bicycle lamps. However, if his lamps used candles, they would cost consumers 20,000 yen per one thousand hours. If batteries were used, consumers would have to spend about 7,500. With dynamo-powered bicycle lamps (lamps powered by pedalling) there was only a one time cost of 1,500 yen. Moreover, they were brighter than candles or battery-powered lamps. Toshio was very excited about the potential of this product and immediately searched for ways to start production. Fortunately, Konosuke offered him use of an empty Matsushita plant in Houjo, Hyogo Prefecture. On February 1, 1947, the first SANYO Electric Plant started operation. Toshio hired a dozen or so people and related to them his personal dream for the company. "We will produce dynamo-powered lamps for bicycles. If we assume that half the world's population rides bicycles, we are looking at over one billion people. This suggests that a huge demand for bicycle lamps is possible. My dream is to see half of all bicycles worldwide use our lamps."