Sector Directory

Organization

Entrepreneurs du Monde

Mission

Entrepreneurs du Monde works with particularly underprivileged men and women to help them create and develop income-generating activities through credit, savings and training programs. Thanks to its social entrepreneurship unit, Entrepreneurs du Monde also supports supply chains for the promotion and distribution, through sustainable business models, of energy efficient products, including improved cookstoves and LPG cookstoves.

Organizational Expertise

Adoption / Behavior Change, Carbon Finance, Climate/Environment, Finance / Investment, Livelihoods, Monitoring and Evaluation, Marketing, Technology and Fuel R&D

Other Organizational Expertise

Microfinance, micro-insurance, micro-franchise

Technologies & Fuels

Biomass (Ag. Residue, Processed Biomass, etc.), Charcoal, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Pellets / Briquettes, Solar

Clean Cooking Activities

Since 2010, as part of its “Save for a Stove†project, Entrepreneurs du Monde has been fighting deforestation and improving living conditions in Burkina Faso via the sale of more than 7,000 LPG stoves and improved biomass stoves, saving at least 40% wood and reducing CO2 emissions by 33%. In 2012, the project shifted towards “Nafa Naanaâ€, a market-based business model. Nafa Naana's activities consist of distributing LPG stoves, improved cookstoves, and other energy products such as thermos cookers, to households in remote areas. The distribution channels are based on retailers operating as micro-franchisees and on direct sales to women groups and associations. Within 10 years, Nafa Naana expects to sell 500,000 stoves and impact around 3,000,000 people directly or indirectly within West Africa.

In Haiti, Entrepreneurs du Monde is initiating a similar program of large-scale distribution of energy efficient products to increase energy access for the poorest. The initiative, called Palmis Enèji, is a partnership between Entrepreneurs du Monde and TOTAL Haïti. Products that are distributed include improved cookstoves and LPG stoves as well as solar lanterns. 10,000 products will be retailed during a 12 month pilot phase thanks to a network of retailers and street vendors. The financial sustainability of the programs will rely on product sales as well as carbon financing.

Thus, both in Haiti and Burkina Faso, Entrepreneurs du Monde supports the whole cookstoves' value chain: on the one hand, it offers producers and distributors micro lending solutions and provides them with trainings; and on the other hand, it creates and supports demand through social marketing, awareness rising, and microfinance solutions. Therefore, the business model addresses market barriers that are often faced in developing countries: consumers' lack of knowledge regarding technology's efficiency, the weakness of production and distribution networks when it comes to alternative technologies, and the limited investment capacity of the population.

Partnership

Through its different programs, Entrepreneurs du Monde has gained valuable knowledge and expertise regarding cookstove value chains and markets. Before being implemented, each project goes through a feasibility assessment, and all of Entrepreneurs du Monde's programs include a follow-up phase to monitor economic, social, and environmental impacts and to assess their sustainability. These studies provided us with crucial information regarding cookstove markets.

Moreover, Entrepreneurs du Monde has developed an innovative business model, which relies on a combination of customized microfinance services and market-based mechanisms, and which has the potential to overcome market barriers and make the project sustainable and scalable. The sustainability is also ensured by carbon finance mechanisms; while the scaling-up is expected to be achieved thanks to the social micro-franchisees who, benefit from easily replicable business-in-a-box solutions.

As a partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, we will share this knowledge and expertise, as well as the lessons we learnt from our previous experiences. Besides, we are willing to discover more about other programs and good practices that are developed in this field.

Regions Operating In

Latin America and Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa

Country Based In

France

Address

29 rue Ladmirault

POITIERS, 86000

Website

https://www.entrepreneursdumonde.org/

Primary Point of Contact

Name: Mr. Thomas Thivillon

Title: Social Entrepreneurship Manager

Email: thomas.thivillon@entrepreneursdumonde.org

Phone: 33(0)5 49 60 68 51