The Challenge

In Nigeria, more than 40 percent of urban households and a staggering 92 percent of rural households still depend on biomass for their cooking, contributing to the roughly 1.5 million deaths worldwide caused each year from indoor air pollution. Additionally, the cost of alternative sources of fuel for cooking is a challenge for most low-income customers. Due to supply and price fluctuations, kerosene is increasingly becoming inconvenient and costly for communities living in poverty.

The Innovation

Green Energy Biofuels manufactures and distributes an innovative, smoke-free cook stove that utilizes an environmentally-friendly fuel gel. The Bio gel, developed from cellulosic ethanol made from water hyacinth and sawdust is safer, cleaner and cheaper than kerosene and burns more efficiently, giving families not only a safer cooking environment but also 40 percent in savings. In addition, the company’s highly efficient stove and fuel cut the time women and children spend collecting firewood, freeing them up so they can dedicate more time to education and income generation.

The Impact

To date, Green Energy Biofuels has sold more than 400,000 cook stoves, impacting the lives of more than three million people. Acumen’s equity investment will help Green Energy Biofuels provide management support services, build its technical assistance and ramp up its production to meet the demands of its growing customer base.