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Hi, I’m Javi Gascón.
This is Climate Tech Distillery, a newsletter where I talk about one specific climate tech company every week.
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Today we’ll distill a company that’s making clean cookstoves and biomass fuel pellets to replace charcoal and wood cooking in Africa at scale: EcoSafi 🇺🇸🇰🇪
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What Problem Does EcoSafi Tackle❓
EcoSafi tackles the problem of widespread reliance on traditional cooking methods (charcoal, firewood, etc.) in East Africa:
1. Scale: 3 billion people globally rely on solid fuels for cooking, with Sub-Saharan Africa having the highest dependence rates. Given that 80% of the global population growth this century is expected in Africa, the demand for these fuels will significantly increase.
2. Indoor Air Pollution: Cooking with such fuels produces dangerous smoke that causes severe respiratory problems. The WHO estimates 3.2 million premature deaths annually are due to this.
3. Carbon Emissions: Traditional cooking methods release significant CO2 and other greenhouse gases. They are responsible for around 2% of global emissions.
4. Deforestation: In Africa (4 million hectares/year) it happens at 2x the speed of the world's average. Fuel for cooking is responsible for a big chunk of that. Trees are cut down for firewood or turned into charcoal.
5. Economic Burden: Families spend a high % of their income on cooking fuel and many women and children spend hours daily collecting firewood instead of attending school or generating income.
There's an urgent need for clean, affordable cooking solutions that break this destructive cycle.
Product / Service 📦
EcoSafi creates a complete clean cooking ecosystem by manufacturing efficient biomass cookstoves and producing sustainable fuel pellets from agricultural waste.
The business model is simple. Families get the cookstoves for free as long as they pay for the fuel pellets as they need them.
It’s a game-changer for many reasons:
Cheapest Cooking Method: Their fuel pellets cost 50% less than charcoal or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). And remember, the stove is 100% free and if there’s an issue with it EcoSafi repairs/replaces it for free.
Safety and Health: The improved combustion drastically reduces indoor air pollution. The stoves burn cleaner and produce less smoke. No added chemicals, no fumes or odd smells.
Sustainable Pellets: They’re made out of agricultural waste (sugarcane bagasse mostly), in an all-electric factory that runs on clean energy. This prevents millions of hectares from being deforested and avoids the burning/rotting of the agricultural waste (very polluting).
Emissions: Compared to charcoal, EcoSafi stoves are 98% cleaner (particulate matter, carbon monoxide, other toxic gases) and reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 95%, avoiding an average of 3 tons of CO2 emissions per customer.
Temperature Advantage: EcoSafi pellets offer the widest range of cooking temperatures of any fuel, from slow simmer to boiling and frying.
Carbon Credits: EcoSafi generates additional revenue by selling top quality carbon credits at premium prices - up to $35 per tonne of CO2.
Market 🌐
80% of Sub-Saharan Africans currently live without access to clean cooking solutions. Investment in clean cooking stoves, equipment and infrastructure would need to reach about USD 8 billion annually to achieve universal access.
EcoSafi’s solution could potentially benefit 200-300 million people in East Africa alone.
Other Key Players
BURN Stoves 🇰🇪: Kenya-based manufacturer producing efficient biomass cookstoves. Millions sold across East Africa with designs tailored for local cooking habits.
BioLite 🇺🇸: Develops innovative clean cooking and energy products, including biomass stoves that generate electricity for off-grid households.
Envirofit 🇺🇸: Social enterprise designing and manufacturing clean cookstoves aimed at reducing fuel use, emissions, and health impacts in developing countries.
Most competitors focus primarily on stove manufacturing, but EcoSafi's integrated approach of providing free stoves + sustainable fuel pellets + top tier carbon credits is what sets them apart to solve this massive cooking challenge.
Founding Story 🦄
EcoSafi was co-founded by Tom Price (President) and Jordyan Woodley (CEO) in 2020. Tom previously worked at Indenyeri, a clean fuel startup in Rwanda. He witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of charcoal use on both health and the environment. Jordyan had several years of experience in growth strategy in African markets.
The joined forces and launched EcoSafi in Kenya. It builds on the business model Indenyeri had already proved (providing high-efficiency stoves at minimal cost and generating revenue through sustainable fuel sales and carbon credits). Inyenyeri faced sustainability challenges and closed but was key to create EcoSafi.
The company is now present in both Kenya and Rwanda and has strong ties to the US (product design, investments, some employees). They plan to expand to more markets and they have raised over $15 million in multiple rounds.
Some investors include Climate Capital and Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital.
Top Impact Stats 📈
1. EcoSafi earned Africa's first "AA" carbon rating from an independent rating agency, placing it among the top 7% of carbon projects globally.
2. They aim to provide up to 65,000 people in Kenya with clean cooking solutions by the end of 2028.
3. It’s the cheapest, cleanest, most sustainable and convenient cooking solution available for hundreds of millions in East Africa.
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