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RADP / Pulse Ghana  >  news  >  business

This little stove is making a big difference in Kenya

sQuashie

Four years ago, entrepreneur and CEO Peter Scott created BURN to address the enormous need for high-efficiency cookstoves in the developing world, where nearly three billion people rely on biomass fuels, such as wood, charcoal and dung for cooking.

 
 

Since being introduced in 2013, the Jikokoa cookstove has been setting the market alight with its revolutionary design that not only reduces wood and fuel costs by half, but also cuts smoke emissions by up to 60 per cent. Back in 2014, GE Africa partnered with other organisations to provide US$4million to set up a manufacturing facility in Kenya with satellite assembly plants in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to make the cookstoves. The news that 100,000 stoves have now been sold is cause for celebration at the BURN manufacturing facility, the producers of the award-winning JikokoaTM clean-burning cookstove.

Four years ago, entrepreneur and CEO Peter Scott created BURN to address the enormous need for high-efficiency cookstoves in the developing world, where nearly three billion people rely on biomass fuels, such as wood, charcoal and dung for cooking. Traditional cooking methods are often to blame for some of the health, environmental and safety issues facing communities across sub Saharan Africa.

The majority of families cook over polluting biomass fuels and open fires with serious health ramifications. This year alone, an estimated 680,000 people in Africa –  mostly women and children – will die from respiratory diseases related to indoor cooking smoke. The prevalence of pneumonia, low birth rate, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, lung cancer and cataracts amongst poor households is often a result of constant exposure to the smoke.

In comparison to traditional cookstoves, the Jikokoa™ offers improved health, environmental and economic benefits. On average, it uses 45 per cent less charcoal than conventional cookstoves without compromising on cooking quality. It produces 60 per cent less smoke and reduces fuel costs by more than 60 per cent. With Kenyans spending as much as $400 per  year on charcoal, the savings realised with the Jikokoa cookstove are likely to have a positive effect on household budgets

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The cookstoves are manufactured at a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ruiru District, Kiambu  County. The facility employs more than 100 people and produces one Jikokoa cookstove every minute. With production in full swing, the facility has a positive impact on the lives of its employees as well as the broader SME community which provides goods and services to the business.

“When we started operations in Kenya two years ago, locally manufacturing the best cookstoves in the world was just a dream. Now it’s a reality,” said Peter Scott, CEO BURN. “On this day, we can take great pride in our accomplishments and great comfort in knowing that the next 100,000 will be much easier than the first.”

From the outset, BURN’s goal was to create not only clean burning charcoal stoves, but to provide a variety of cooking solutions that save money, lives and forests. With its 100,000th cookstove sold, this is one little stove is starting to make a big difference in Kenya.

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