Ethan Kay
Managing Director, Emerging Markets, BioLite
Ethan Kay is the Managing Director of Emerging Markets for BioLite. As a successful academic and entrepreneur focused on building inclusive businesses for people in developing countries, Ethan brings a unique set of skills and interests to BioLite.
Ethan has designed and launched partnerships between corporations and NGOs in India and Bangladesh to give low-income, rural women access to sustainable livelihoods and villagers access to sanitation, nutrition, and clean energy. He has helped build a distribution channel in rural India to supply essential goods and services (e.g., sanitation and groceries) to low-income households, and served for six years as an advisor to Swayam Shikshan Prayog [SSP], an Indian microfinance and rural community development NGO.
He holds a Master’s degree in Politics with a concentration in Comparative Government from Oxford and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Sol Feinstone Award recipient. After Wharton, Ethan spent two years in the private sector focusing on emerging markets. Ethan is a Board Member of Re-Emerging World, an emerging market strategic advisory firm; Hands Up For Darfur, which raises funds for local relief organizations in Sudan; and Vice President of the Board of Ahuyu, a U.S.-based non-profit that is expanding access to clean cookstoves for poor people in Latin America.
Day 0
October 10
Sessions by Ethan Kay
Day 1
October 11
Sessions by Ethan Kay
12:30 pm-1:30 pm
Breakout Room A
Biomass Cooking: Evolution and Scale on the Road to Universal Access
Biomass remains the mainstay of cooking for households and institutions across the developing world both in rural settings where consumers have few viable alternatives, and in urban settings where consumers stack multiple solutions in their day-to-day cooking mix. The challenge remains that much of the biomass cooking that occurs in developing regions is neither clean nor efficient. Alongside an industry of improved and clean cookstoves there is renewed focus on commercial biomass fuel distribution models and integrated ‘tool and fuel’ models that are attempting to bring more value to the consumer beyond the stove sale. How are businesses evolving in the biomass segment, attracting investment, and scaling solutions for clean biomass cooking and what is the role of clean biomass on the road to universal access?
This session will discuss the crucial place of biomass tools and fuel in the clean cooking sector and the evolving business models that are driving adoption of clean biomass solutions. Speakers from some of the leading organizations in the segment will unpack key issues such as: why the segment has historically not attracted large investment, the role of innovation in driving scale and impact, what is missing to reach scalable biomass fuel distribution models, and the opportunities and challenges of carbon finance in the ecosystem.
Speakers
Tanuja Bhattacharjee
Energy Specialist, The World Bank
Ute Collier
Deputy Director, Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre, International Renewable Energy Agency
Ethan Kay
Managing Director, Emerging Markets, BioLite
Simba Mudimbu
Senior Portfolio Manager, Venture Programs, Clean Cooking Alliance
Claudia Muench
Co-Founder & CEO, BioMassters
Chris McKinney
Chief Commercial Officer, BURN Manufacturing LLC USA
Jean-Louis Racine
Chief Program Officer, Clean Cooking Alliance
Day 2
October 12
Sessions by Ethan Kay
Day 3
October 13
Sessions by Ethan Kay
Day 4
October 14
Sessions by Ethan Kay
Sessions by Ethan Kay
Sessions by Ethan Kay
12:30 pm-1:30 pm
Breakout Room A
Biomass Cooking: Evolution and Scale on the Road to Universal Access
Biomass remains the mainstay of cooking for households and institutions across the developing world both in rural settings where consumers have few viable alternatives, and in urban settings where consumers stack multiple solutions in their day-to-day cooking mix. The challenge remains that much of the biomass cooking that occurs in developing regions is neither clean nor efficient. Alongside an industry of improved and clean cookstoves there is renewed focus on commercial biomass fuel distribution models and integrated ‘tool and fuel’ models that are attempting to bring more value to the consumer beyond the stove sale. How are businesses evolving in the biomass segment, attracting investment, and scaling solutions for clean biomass cooking and what is the role of clean biomass on the road to universal access?
This session will discuss the crucial place of biomass tools and fuel in the clean cooking sector and the evolving business models that are driving adoption of clean biomass solutions. Speakers from some of the leading organizations in the segment will unpack key issues such as: why the segment has historically not attracted large investment, the role of innovation in driving scale and impact, what is missing to reach scalable biomass fuel distribution models, and the opportunities and challenges of carbon finance in the ecosystem.
Speakers
Tanuja Bhattacharjee
Energy Specialist, The World Bank
Ute Collier
Deputy Director, Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre, International Renewable Energy Agency
Ethan Kay
Managing Director, Emerging Markets, BioLite
Simba Mudimbu
Senior Portfolio Manager, Venture Programs, Clean Cooking Alliance
Claudia Muench
Co-Founder & CEO, BioMassters
Chris McKinney
Chief Commercial Officer, BURN Manufacturing LLC USA
Jean-Louis Racine
Chief Program Officer, Clean Cooking Alliance