Recipe for Success: Lessons from Acumen’s Cookstoves Investments
In this retrospective, Acumen summarizes the key lessons learned from investing over $6 million in five companies that are transforming the way households cook through improved cookstoves and access to cleaner fuels.
- Report
- All Problems
- All Regions
- 2023
Transforming the way households cook
Since 2015, Acumen has invested over $6 million in five companies that are transforming the way households cook through improved cookstoves and access to cleaner fuels.
These investments have become one of the most impactful and profitable sub-sectors Acumen has ever invested in. These five companies have:
- Sold a collective 3.8 million stoves and impacted 21 million lives.
- Saved customers hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel and healthcare costs.
- Mitigated 18 million tons of carbon dioxide.
In this retrospective, we summarize the key lessons we have learned from our investments as well as our work with Loughborough University under the Modern Energy Cooking Services Programme (MECS), which is funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), then share our perspective on where the market is headed.
This material has been funded by UKaid from the UK government and is implemented by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; however, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.
This report was developed in Partnership with ESMAP and Loughborough University, with funding from UKAID from the UK Government
Investing as a Means: 20 Years of Patient Capital
For 20 years, Acumen has invested Patient Capital into social enterprises that serve the needs of people living in poverty. In this report, we share what has worked, what has not, and where we are headed next.
Lighting the Way: Roadmap to exits in off-grid energy
This report seeks to identify the most viable pathways to exit, so companies, investors and other stakeholders can recycle capital into new pioneering companies
A Lean Data How to Guide: Understanding Gender Impact
Acumen and Unilever have partnered to bring a gender lens to impact measurement with a new toolkit designed to better understand how programs and services are affecting women and girls across the globe.
Featured Course
Acumen’s Patient Capital Lessons from 20 Years of Impact Investing