PK Eco Storage

Problem: In Liberia, about 45% of fresh food and produce in Liberia  goes to waste due to the lack of storage facility. Million of farmers watches their food spoil in the sun while thousands of Liberians need these nutrients to survive. Only 10% of the urban population has access to electricity, which creates a huge challenge because farmers cannot refrigerate their food or produce.

My solution to the huge loss of fresh food and produce in Liberia is Pk Eco Storage, a solar powered cold storage facility for fruits and Vegetables in Paynesville, Liberia. 

PK Eco Storage will enable smallholder farmers like my dad to keep his produce fresh enough to sell all his harvest. PK Eco Storage has the capacity of storing 23 thousand kilograms of food, and saving 260 kilograms of food per day while serving the entire local community, reducing malnutrition, and addressing climate crisis. 

Problem: In Liberia, about 45% of fresh food and produce in Liberia goes to waste due to the lack of storage facility. Million of farmers watches their food spoil in the sun, while thousands of Liberians need these nutrients to survive. About 45% of Liberians children are chronically or acutely malnourished, experts say nutrition is a burning health problem. Liberia's post-harvest losses, land use, and energy generate 17 million metric tons of CO2, which is 0.04% of the world total. Electricity generation is also recovering from the impacts of the war. Only 10% of the urban population has access to electricity and none of the rural population. An improved food storage system could restore Liberia to proper health. The unsustainable amount of food waste damages the economy and the earth. Agriculture is the backbone of Liberia’s economy, providing informal employment for more than 70% of the workforce (mostly in rural areas) and contributing an estimated 37.28% to the gross domestic product. 

Solution: 

My solution to the huge loss of fresh food and produce in Liberia is Pk Eco Storage, a solar powered cold storage facility for fruits and Vegetables in Paynesville, Liberia. PK Eco Storage is refurbished and repurposed shipping containers that are powered by photovoltaic solar. This facility will significantly reduce post-harvest losses and ensure that healthy fruits and vegetables are available on the market for year-round consumption by people of Liberia. 

PK Eco Storage will enable smallholder farmers like my dad to keep his produce fresh enough to sell all his harvest. We will also see improved nutrition in Liberia. PK Eco Storage has the capacity of storing 23 thousand kilograms of food, and saving 260 kilograms of food per day while serving the entire local community and addressing climate crisis. PK Eco Storage will also Increase farmers’ profit, resilience, and overcome poverty traps.

PK Eco storage address food waste, Malnutrition, and CO2 emissions crisis in Liberia. Each of PK Eco Storage units can put 180 thousand back into the pockets of small holder farmers annually, while 900 people will be made healthier. Each facility reduces about 2,000 metric tons of carbon each year.

The target population for PK Eco Storage includes fruits and vegetable sellers in Paynesville, Liberia as well as smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers. Initially, 2 forty foot storage units will be erected to serve 80 smallholder farmers in Paynesville. These farmers have some of the largest farms in Nimba and Lofa counties where 80% of fruits and vegetables are grown. Our unique location which is the Paynesville Red light Gobachop market is a major hub for food distribution in Liberia. As we expand our facility throughout Liberia and other developing countries in West Africa, we will increase the number of farmers within our network.  We will provide a mobile cold-storage unit during harvest time to prevent post-harvest losses in their produce. Our interactive outreach is enabling us to establish relationships with customers. We are engaging in face to face meetings with our farmers and sellers to understand their needs. We are also educating our target population about our service by highlighting the positive aspects and benefits of our service to them, the agriculture industry and Liberian society.

The lives of the 45% malnourished kids will also improve with the availability of nutrient rich food provided by the storage facility. 

PK Eco solar powered storage facilities will reduce food waste in Liberia and improve farmers livelihood and income. Farmers and fruit and vegetable sellers watch their produce go to waste in the hot sun and have low incomes due to the lack of storage facility. Expected post harvest losses and land use lead farmers to produce over 17 million metric tons of CO2 per year. These unsustainable amount of food waste emits methane gas that destroys the economy and planet. PK Eco storage will improve the health of the 45%  malnourished kids by improving food storage system.

This solution is unique because it will:

Improve food security: about 83.3 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. 32 percent of Liberia’s 4.2 million people were classified as Moderate or Severe chronically food insecure. PK Eco Storage solutions can help meet the growing demand for food through increasing yield, storage, and farmers income production and productivity in key value chains. our solution is also unique because it reduce post harvest loss of fruits and vegetables, it is an efficient and affordable service, it will Improve farmers livelihood and income, and provide healthy fruits and vegetables for good nutrition in Liberia.

Create employment opportunities: Agriculture sustains the livelihood of more than 70% of Liberia Population and 50% of the African population. Additional opportunities can be created by facilitating access to storage and solar energy, which are key limiting resource for productivity.

This solution will enhance smallholder farmers resilience to shocks: PK Eco Storage can reduce farmers vulnerability, by
cushioning farmers from the impact of climate change, huge post harvest losses, and fluctuations in market prices of agricultural produce.

This solution will stimulate growth in Liberia's economy: By increasing agricultural productivity, PK Eco Storage will stimulate socio-economic development. United Nations Environment Programme estimates that, for every 10% increase in farm yield, there has been an estimated 7% reduction in poverty in Africa.

Our Technology is PV solar power cold storage for fruit and vegetables. The storage is made from repurposed and refurbished shipping containers into refrigerated food storage. The size of the storage is12.2 m X 2.4 m x 2.6 m 40 feet container. Each storage will be powered by A solar photovoltaic system

consisting of 300 W panels capable of a maximum 2.4 kW, or 4.8 kW on a storage unit. Each unit runs directly from solar power during the day and stored solar energy (batteries) at nightand that will be used to power the AC to cool the storage. The electric current produced by SPV panels during daylight hours charges the batteries, which in turn supply power to the system.   

This technology have been widely used in the World and it is currently being used in Nigeria. CoolHUbs is currently established in Nigeria to help farmers and vendors become more profitable by eliminating food waste through a 100% solar powered walk in cold room. CoolHub was founded in 2015. Solar Freeze is also established in Kenya to reduce post harvest losses of fruit and vegetables through solar power food storage.

This is a link to solar freeze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oYt9eb6xpA. This is the video link for CoolHubs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS4dWipnz-A

Initially, my solution will be serving 200 smallholder female farmers in Liberia. in Year 1. In two years, In 5 years I will be serving over 3,000 smallholder farmers.

In year 1, my goal is to get financing from partners and through fundraising for the erection of the first two PK Eco Storage units and work with 200 female farmers. This proof of concept will help us stand out to potential investors while providing benefits to thousand of people in Liberia. By year 5, we hope to leverage our positive cash flow and partnership to expand to all the 15 counties in Liberia and other developing countries. We hope to penetrate the West African market by 30%, and empowering 200 million people to sustainable food growing practices, preventive health care and nutrition while strengthening the rural sectors. 

Barriers that exist include: access to start up capital.

 The barrier that this venture might face include: the barrier to scale. The storage will require asset funding which is not currently available for smallholder farmers. Another major issue is the lack of long-term finance for Agri-businesses. While some banks offer credit to purchase assets, small agri-businesses  like PK Eco Storage are not yet able to meet the stringent collateral requirements. If I'm selected as a solver, I will have access to some funding and mentorship to start my project.

Another barrier that electricity supply in Liberia is unreliable and the opportunity for horticulture cold storage is limited. I will work along with solve innovators to provide business management entry growth strategy. 

The third barrier is poor road network and condition

I plan on overcoming the barrier to scale by pitching for investment and applying for grants to start as well as scale my project.

For unreliable electricity supply, I will be working with solar power technology to generate efficient power. 

For poor road conditions, we will have 4wd vehicles that will have mobile storage units attached to bring farmers produce to the main storage area. 

My team consists of four members. 

• Executive Team:  Founder and CEO: Patience Koenig; Emmanuel Gweamee, Administrative Officers; Ruth Farkollie, Director of Marketing; Theophilus Nelson, Director of Finance

• Advisor: Hh Zaizay, Executive Director of President Young Professionals Program; 

• Dr. Kevin Miles, Avantras Consulting Group 

My team consists of technical experts who will help in the purchasing of standard equipment to erect the facility. My team also consist of Business managers and administrators that will efficiently run the venture

Patience Koenig is President and Founder

Patience plays the major leadership role in the implementation of the business. Her leadership role entails being ultimately responsible for all day-to-day management of the business and implementing the organization long and short term plans. Patience is studying Environmental Science and sustainable Food Systems at Wells College. She also owns a business called PK House of Cocoa.

Emmanuel Gweamee -Administrative Officer

Emmanuel responsibilities include ensuring that meetings are effectively organized and minuted, and  maintaining effective record keeping for the business operations. Emmanuel is well rounded with efficient skills in Business administration. He's also a graduate of the University of Rochester.

Ruth Farkollie -Director of Marketing and Social Media. Ruth is a corporate communication and Business major student at LYcoming college in Pennslyvania.  

Hh Zaizay is our team mentor and advisor. Hh Zaizay is the Executive Director of President's Young Professional Program in Liberia. He menors and equip young college graduate for the civil society.

I haven't built any partnership yet. I'm on the path to doing that.

The farmers, fruit vegetable sellers, and farmers cooperatives will pay a flat monthly rate to store their products. PK Eco Storage will then expand to communities and towns in all 15 counties in Liberia. We will also sell the Eco Storage units to farming towns and communities in Liberia. During our third stage of development, PK Eco Storage will expand our sales to other undeveloped and underdeveloped countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea and others.  These farmers need our service to reduce their post harvest losses and improve their livelihood and incomes. The storage will preserve fruit and vegetables that do not get sold immediately after harvest.

Solve can help me overcome the barriers of access to finance. get access to mentorship and funding. The barrier that this venture might face that Solve can help my team and I overcome include: the barrier to scale. The storage will require asset funding which is not currently available for smallholder farmers. Another major issue is the lack of long-term finance for Agri-businesses. While some banks offer credit to purchase assets, small agri-businesses  like PK Eco Storage are not yet able to meet the stringent collateral requirements. If I'm selected as a solver, I will have access to some funding and mentorship to start my project.

Another barrier that electricity supply in Liberia is unreliable and the opportunity for horticulture cold storage is limited. I will work along with solve innovators to provide business management entry growth strategy. 

My partnership goals include: communication, networking, and education for  linking up with the cold chain. My goals also include getting partners that will expose me to the market, coach me on proper handling and storage of perishable products and the development of systems and best practices for the safe, efficient, and reliable movement of food to the people of Liberia and and the world as I expand. And lastly, I would need partners to aid me in competitive supply chain management solutions tailored to  my specific market needs as well as solar power experts to aid in the maintenance of the facilities.

I would like to partner with the UN Environment to fund my venture and help me build a resilient infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions in Liberia. 

I would like to partner with MIT to get equipped with business management skills as well as possible funding access.

The global cold chain alliance is another partner I have in mind, I would like to partner with GCCA to get guidance, resources, and advisory services on the management of my storage. I also want to partner with GCCA to get recognition and to be recommended to their partnering organizations.

Some local partners I would love to work with include the Ministry of Agriculture in Liberia. I would love to work with the ministry to access some funds for exansion in other rural parts of Liberia after I had operation for 2 to 3 years. 

I would also like to partner with the smallholder farmers fruit and Vegetable Association in Liberia to adequately work with them in meeting their needs.

I'm still thinking about other possible partners.

PK Eco Storage is qualified for this price because we are going to expand our services and storage units across West Africa. We are going to improve the livelihood and income of smallholder farmers who do not have access to storage facility.  The world will benefit from or venture because we will be establishing a venture that reduces the emission of CO2. We will use the Future Planet Capital to produce more storage and expand to other West African countries. We will also sell out our units to small farming towns and cooperative in Liberia and West Africa.