Organization
Eco-fuel Africa Limited
Mission
Eco-fuel Africa (EFA) leverages simple but innovative technologies and inclusive business models to convert locally sourced biomass waste into clean cooking fuel (green charcoal), organic fertilizers (biochar) and to turn unemployed people in Africa into clean energy micro-entrepreneurs. This is enabling people at the base of the pyramid in Africa to access clean cooking fuel, creating sustainable local jobs, reducing deforestation, enabling poor farmers to double their food harvests and enabling marginalized young girls to stay in school.
Organizational Expertise
Livelihoods
Technologies & Fuels
Biomass (Ag. Residue, Processed Biomass, etc.), Charcoal, Pellets / Briquettes
Clean Cooking Activities
Firstly, we invented simple kilns which are made from 55-gallon barrels. These kilns are loaned to farmers in Africa who are then trained to use them to convert locally sourced waste biomass into charcoal powder, 80% of which is sold to EFA and 20% of which is retained by the farmers and applied to their gardens as biochar, a soil amendment which has been scientifically proven to increase soil fertility, increase water retention (thus increasing crop yields by over 50%) and sequester C02 by burying it in the soil where it belongs. Farmers are able to make incomes of at least $30/month from selling charcoal powder to EFA, augmenting incomes by over 40 percent. ® Already, 2,500 farmers in Uganda use our kilns.
Secondly, we invented a simple briquetting machine called the Eco-fuel Press which is used to compress charcoal powder bought from farmers into clean cooking fuel (green charcoal) that local people can use to cook their food instead of fuel-wood. The Eco-fuel Press does not require electricity to operate and is easy to use. This has enabled us to take clean cooking fuel to marginalized communities in Africa without electricity. Our green charcoal is 20% cheaper; cooks cleaner and cooks longer than fuel-wood. Users of our clean cooking fuel save at least $200/year; do not have to worry about indoor air pollution and do not have to deplete forests for fuel. Also, with our green charcoal cultural barriers to adoption are signiï¬cantly lower than clean cook stoves and other waste briquette projects, as neither new cooking methods nor new stove technologies are required because our green charcoal can be used in the same stoves Sub-Saharan Africans already use
Thirdly, we turn marginalized women in Africa into micro-retailers of our green charcoal. We go to villages, identify marginalized women, train them and build for each of them a simple kiosk which they use as a retail shop to sell our green charcoal to their local community. Already we have created 160 women retailers in Uganda and each of these women earns at least $152/month from retailing our green charcoal.
Partnership
Sharing experiences and skills
Regions Operating In
Sub-Saharan Africa
Country Based In
Uganda
Website
Primary Point of Contact
Name: Mr. Sanga Moses
Title: C.E.O
Email: sbm72003@yahoo.co.uk
Phone: (25678) 266-0631
Secondary Point of Contact
Name: Mr. Tandekwire Ben
Title: Chief Operations Manager
Email: info@ecofuelafrica.com
Phone: (25670) 266-0631
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