Powerstove

As we battle to contain the spread and impacts of covid19, micro and small enterprises are badly hit with loss of revenues and patronages which has led to loss of 13.5 million jobs within 3 months in Nigeria. Women and girls are they most causalities. However, Powerstove pivoted new sales and marketing strategy; direct selling using below-the-line advertisement to recruit and empower women and girls (priority on women-headed households) who lost their jobs to become our last mile distributors that earns commission, bonus and basic salary monthly. We also provide training led by women who utilize curriculum to train these local women as clean cookstove technicians, building local capacity in stove installation and servicing. These women/girls use our large-screen smartphones to grow users, mobile payments and product ordering that provided quantitative findings and post-intervention qualitative analysis, that sustain sells and builds consumer relationships which can be scaled on other FMCGs.

Nigerians are losing their jobs as both individuals and MSMEs face undaunted challenges due to the snowballing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging the economy. According to the maiden report of COVID-19 impact monitoring survey recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), out of 1,950 households surveyed on a nationally representative sample, 42% of the respondents who were working before the outbreak were no longer working and the poorest households reported the highest share of Nigerians who stopped working (45%), while 35% of the wealthiest household also affected. 

Also, a high rate of households reported income loss since mid-March 2020, as 79% of households reported that their total income decreased, the rate was highest for income from non-farm family business (85%) compared to household farming, livestock or fishing (73%) and wage employment (58%).

According to NBS, between 35-59% of households could not afford to buy staple foods and 26% of households who needed medical treatment were not able to get them. While households are facing economic shocks, they are also attempting to adapt and cope with the current realities like learning new skills/trade (51% of all households), reducing food consumption (31%) and drawing down their savings (29%).

Powerstove design, manufacture and distribute a smokeless cookstove that uses 70% less cooking fuel to cook foods 5x faster and self-generate electricity, hence unique in solving energy-poverty in last-mile communities by providing homes with top-quality, robust and durable clean cookstove designed and built for use in remote, harsh environments and also urban cities. Powerstove eliminates toxic emissions and improves the quality of household air pollution below the WHO recommended exposure limit, in our energy-poor communities of Nigeria.

Since 2018, Powerstove demonstrates how mobile phones helps in advancing the economic, health and environmental objectives of users and MSMEs by providing an affordable, reliable, mobile-phone-based monitoring device to enable widespread participation in a voluntary carbon market when individuals use improve cookstoves versus traditional stoves. The system includes embedded IoT and GSM technology for monitoring and metering usage, while its Pay-As-You-Cook service lowers barriers of large initial cash outlay. Powerstove focuses on mitigating climate change by integrating blockchain and clean cooking technologies with innovative sensing and climate financing for Co2 and black carbon reduction. Powerstove end-to-end carbon trading platform on the blockchain tracks and trades digital assets significantly lower the verification and transaction costs, and improve data integrity that increase legitimacy of credits.

The characteristics of our target population are poor and low-income families mostly in rural and peri-urban communities that rely on subsistence farming and petty trading and the majority (95%) use firewood and charcoal as the main fuel for lighting, heating and cooking because of its availability and affordability compared to other high-end cooking fuel substitutes. For the medium income households, they want substitute to cooking gas that is clean and affordable that they can use to cook traditional dish like beans, and cow-tail meat that is slow cooked and demands lots of cooking fuel.

We provide training for women, led by women who utilize our in-house developed curriculum on hands-on training that builds local capacity in stove installation and servicing. Also, through our Points-2-Fuels (P2F) program, we partner with local women farmers to recycle all their post-harvest crop wastes into clean biomass pellets to migrate them out from expensive, inefficient and toxic firewood and charcoal. P2F solves the problem of waste management at communal level through education, public awareness and engagement, and most importantly give local women chances to earn extra income selling their wastes and also buying our efficient Biomass Pellets which costs 80% cheaper than firewood and charcoal.

Currently households and MSMEs facing economic shocks wants to start new business to adapt and cope with the current realities on covid19 crisis to survive and afford family food needs. However, most of them lacks the funds and skill to migrate, hence Powerstove is providing training and Branded Kiosks equipped with goods worth $1,200 per business to serve as last-mile distributors of clean energy products. 

This helps these businesses to prosper and create good jobs (7 new jobs per kiosks) through access to our goods ($1,200), existing and new networks of users backed by our mobile-based technology in untapped communities.

Our innovation offers a smokeless clean cookstove that also self-generates electricity and what differentiates more our innovation is that we also produce wood pellets from sawdust that costs 80% ($0.2/kilo) cheaper than charcoal, firewood and kerosene. Our wood pellets is the cheapest cooking fuel in the market today, burns longer and efficiently than charcoal, firewood and kerosene; hence saving user $300 annually. Also, Powerstove is the only clean cookstove with built-in self-powered IoT System which allows users to receive Carbon Funds directly into their mobile money account anywhere in the world and also enjoy Pay-As-You-Cook financing option. Our stove cook foods 5x faster than other stoves with 70% less cooking fuel and we have an edge over Solar Home Systems in that we offer both clean cooking stove and a home lighting technology for the price of one product allowing users to choose our product over competitors to enjoy free electricity while cooking efficiently.

Powerstove development of a cost-effective and scalable methods to tokenize carbon assets using Blockchain allow carbon markets to open to a broader spectrum of stakeholders, ranging from individuals to institutions. The carbon security token allow lower cost of issuance, trading, and holding compared to traditional methods. While increasing the security, data integrity, and proof of ownership. Our project provides environmental, health, and economic benefits to recipients. Powerstove also developed proprietary carbon trading simulation model. This tool provide stakeholders with the ability to estimate and prepare for the impacts of carbon policy on their operations.

The product is based on Top-Lit Updraft with fan-assisted technology that self-generates electricity from thermoelectric generator based on seedbeck effect. The electricity generated powers the IoT System (which is first clean cookstove to achieve that) which controls the cooling fan responsible for supplying Oxygen to the combustion chamber of the stove through self-regulated switching system while at the same time sends data to the base station server using HTTP/FTP protocol over the GSM/GPRS network for analytic purposes on biomass consumption, GHG emissions and rate of stove usage. Depending on user type the IoT is responsible for metering the usage of the stove i.e. (Pay-As-You-Cook service) by receiving encrypted control messages from the base server over the 3G/4G cellular network and ensure security measures against theft and system hack by fraudsters. Besides, the IoT controls the charging of the built-in Lithium-ion battery using Pulse Width Modulation principle, utilizing the power/current generated from the output terminals of the stove.

Powerstove is pioneering mitigating climate change by integrating Blockchain and clean cooking technologies with innovative sensing and climate financing for Co2 and black carbon reduction. Powerstove end-to-end carbon trading platform on the Blockchain tracks and trades Co2e assets on Blockchain which significantly lower the verification and transaction costs, improve crucial data integrity that increase legitimacy of credits. Powerstove remains the only clean cookstove company that provides transparent trading platform where cookstove users monitors the monetization of their carbon offsets over web and mobile app and gets paid in US$ just for clean cooking.

Powerstove is based on TLUD, fan-assisted technology that self-generates electricity using seedbeck effect which powers the IoT System that controls all the electrical systems of Powerstove including charging of the Lithium-ion battery using Pulse Width Modulation principle. The IoT device (measuring: 50mm L X 20mm W X 10mm H) which is attached to the stove body does the data logging for ON/OFF of stove powered up by the Li-Ion battery with "Low Battery" indication provided. Communication is done via wireless communication of 3G/4G and 2 sensors mounted on temperature probe and device's PCBA detect the temperature for ON/OFF of stove. So, stove is "ON" when there is an increase of temperature of 5°C detected and stove is "OFF" when there is a temperature drop of 20°C from the maximum temperature detected.

The LCD screen on device shows the temperature and its unique identifier (which is the stove number) which makes the IoT device to become uniquely identified using Powerstve App where data are transmitted to Cloud upon power OFF via SIM card. So, user will be able to get the following data when s/he login in to the app:

1. Amount of Co2 saved

2. Amount of Black Carbon Prevented

3. Total number of Electricity Generated in Kwh

4. Total of Trees saved

5. Total Carbon Credits in US$

This provides real-time data, helping users receive usage-based deposits to their mobile money accounts based on carbon emissions they prevented by cooking with Powersove.

Over recent years, momentum has been growing at national and international levels around the need to increase adoption of improved cookstoves and clean fuels in order to address problems associated with continued use of traditional cooking methods. Such problems include diseases linked to cooking smoke, such as acute lower respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases; burns from open fires; forest and land degradation due to continued demand for biomass fuels; and the large amount of productive time lost collecting and processing traditional fuels.

The transition from traditional cooking to one based upon new practices, technologies and fuels requires more than a transfer of hardware. Decades of experience have shown that the diffusion of new technologies is a complex and non-linear process (Johnson 2013; Ockwell and Mallett 2012). Hence, there is increasing recognition that efforts to achieve cookstove market transformation must address multiple factors (Cordes 2011; Rehfuess et al. 2013; Simon et al. 2012), such as technical specifications, design, quality, accessibility, finance, and the enabling environment. We group these into three categories, discussed below:

Understanding what users want and how to shift behaviour and mobilize demand: First, the technical specifications of the stoves used in the intervention actually meet the goals of improved efficiency and reduced emissions. A second fundamental requirement is that our product is desirable to the end user in terms of utility, cultural appropriateness, aesthetics, and perceived improvement over the old stove.

Finding appropriate business models: This is vital to achieving a sustainable market where enterprises earn enough to keep going, users can afford the product, and financial backers get an adequate return on their investment. Lack of resources, both financial and human capital (e.g. technical expertise), is a frequently cited as a barrier to the success of cookstove projects. 

Creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment: To ensure a dynamic cookstove market, the enabling and regulatory environment must actively support innovation, enable scale-up, and facilitate competition. Where learning is harnessed to bring better and more affordable technologies to users maintaining standards at the outset, to ensure that poor-quality products do not harm market development. 

Powerstove have completed design and development of Tier 4 clean cookstove and successfully integrated the IoT technology, which is currently in use in over 5,300 homes. Based on the launch of expanded factory, we are optimistic that in the next 12 months we will be serving 128,600 homes and in the next five years our target is to reach 1 million users comprising 850,000 homes and 150,000 institutions namely schools, hospitals, care homes, prisons, hotels and restaurants directly with our products.   

Powerstove IoT data which is monitored through large-screen smartphone of field staff has enabled Powerstove and other clean cookstove project implementers to detect mechanical breakdowns, allowing our teams of women technicians to quickly repair the stoves resulting in continuous product usage by these families. The stove users are rewarded with micro-payments up to US$96 commensurate with number of hours of usage paid directly to their bank accounts. Additionally, remittance of carbon credits to families based on Powerstove usage has led to increased cookstove usage among families which also enable them to keep savings money from alternative efficient cooking fuel of up $300 per annum. Also, electricity generated from the stove increased daylight activities for the household including children’s education.

In the next 5 years, Powerstove plans of distributing more 1,000,000 Powerstoves across developing countries, benefiting 5,000,000 people which will save these households over $300,000,000 annually. Hence, giving the chance for many families to pay school fees, start a business, pay health-related costs. Also, these Powerstoves will improve household air quality lowering health crisis, eliminating gender based violence on women and girls, reduced GHG emissions by 7,500 mtCo2e, contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change and also saving 25,000,000 trees and generating new 104,000 jobs directly.

1. Half of all Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) consumers already regularly pay for cooking fuels. Although 70–80% can afford the upfront cost of basic improved cookstove (ICS) (US$5), less than 20% can easily afford high-end cookstoves (US$50–100).
2. Willingness to pay/adopt is a major constraint: 10–30% of SSA consumers are not readily willing to adopt new solutions. The initial willingness to pay for quality ICS is often 20–50% of stove value, but can be increased with marketing and consumer education.
3. Biomass ICS distribution is small but growing: fewer than 10 million SSA households use basic ICS, 5–7 million use intermediate “rocket” or highly improved charcoal ICS, and another 7–8 million have legacy stoves. 
4. The ICS supply is focused on urban areas: less than 20% of urban solid-fuel households have ICS, versus less than 5% of rural households.
5. More than 90% of ICS in Africa are artisanally manufactured cookstoves—chiefly portable, ceramic, jiko-style ICS; legacy chimney stoves; and, in select geographies, efficient rocket stoves.
6. Adoption of industrially manufactured ICS is growing quickly: there are more than 40 SSA industrial/semi-industrial manufacturers (35 more than five years ago), and major players are seeing 35–100% annual growth in sales and 5–25% self-reported margins (10% on average), including carbon revenue streams.
7. Sector financing is a major challenge: funding needs (US$1 billion annually) are 8–20 times the current level of investments by donors and the private sector in ICS (US$50–125 million annually).

1. Initial high cost of high-end cookstove is solved by providing Pay-As-You-Cook consumer financing model to ensure they only pay 40% cost of the project and remaining 60% spread over 3 months.
2. We are using innovative below-the-advertisement to increase willingness to pay/adopt our product. We engage local village chiefs, local influencers and product demos during market days to increase marketing and consumer education.
3. By providing Powerstove mobile branded kiosks in rural and urban communities allows to control all the value chain in clean cookstove distribution and ensure users pays the right amount on each product. 
4. We distribute Powerstove moble branded kiosks in a ration of 80:20 between  rural and urban areas. This shift to rural areas is based on the revelation that rural consumers has lower cost of acquisition and higher customer Lifetime Value on our products
5. We progressively moved our production from artisanally manufactured cookstoves in 2017-2019 to industrially manufactured ICS  by 2020 which improved our technology, lower production cost, increased production outputs and ensure 100% guaranteed Product Quality.
6. By using locally available raw materials of up to 90% to produce our products, we saved massively on forex that have increased our annual growth in sales by 55%, 38% gross profit margins, and another 40% from carbon revenue streams.
7. Sector financing is a major challenge: we are still seriously constrained with funding needs. Currently we are in the market to raise US$1.5 million for our Seed Round Funding by equity investments and debt financing.

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Powerstove has 4 shareholders, 3 member Board of Advisors and 5 member Management Team with average age of 38 years.  The co-founders have known each other since their university days and worked together on different pilot projects in Agriculture and IT. Powerstove has additional 17 full-time staff and 11 part-time staff. Powerstove technical team also partnered with Topeak Mars Industry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd in Jiading District, Shanghai, China to ensure Powerstove next generational technology designs are complimented with Chinese unmatched manufacturing ability. Our partnership birthed the new award winning Powerstove version 4.

Powerstove team is well-positioned to deliver this solution because we communicate well with each other, sharing our thoughts, opinions and ideas with members of our team; as well as taking into consideration what others have to say. We agree on and set team goals based on outcomes and results, rather than just on the amount of work being done. A clear plan is then set about how we are going to achieve these objectives, as a group, as well as each individual’s contribution. This provides us with clear direction and gives us something to aim for collectively.

Also each member of the team contributes their fair share of the workload and fully understands what their responsibilities are and where they fit in with the running of the business. They feel a sense of belonging to the team, and are committed to their work and really care about the success of the company. Team members are always happy to assist others when they need a helping hand with work.

Everyone is unique and willing to offer their own experiences and knowledge that others may not possess. Diversity is needed so that all of the required skills are covered by somebody in the team and each individual can be assigned a particular role on the basis of their strengths and skills. And Okey Esse provides strong leadership that the team trusts and respect. Finally we have fun in a relaxed environment that reduces conflict.

Powerstove is in partnership with GreenTec Capital Partners Germany, which supports all Powerstove on and off field activities with technical support Services around IT, organizational management, and corporate governance. Also, Powerstove technical team partnered with Topeak Mars Industry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd in Jiading District, Shanghai, China to ensure Powerstove next generational technology designs are complimented with Chinese unmatched precision manufacturing ability where we own joint patent on our technology.

We sale and distribute Powerstove to Cooperatives for them to offer the products to their members under asset finance agreement. Using Cooperatives has a number of benefits: interest rates are usually lower than those charged by banks; repayment terms are often longer; similar to developed markets, customers find reassurance in dealing with one entity; and the assurances of having a warranty and after sales service package is an important consideration. The Cooperatives are incentivized to ensure adequate after sales service to motivate payments of the credit installments by members, and the user is incentivized to maintain repayments because the Cooperatives can repossess the asset. On payment completion, ownership of the asset is transferred from the organization to the user. However, while this asset finance is going on, Powerstove has been fully paid on the products supplied to the Cooperatives at Point of Delivery; making us to bear no financial risk.

In rural areas, we setup, select and train Village Level Entrepreneurs. These people are local micro entrepreneurs whom we provide branded kiosks that are trusted in their communities as last mile distributors mostly women. Woman-to-woman marketing is one of the most successful sales models where they earned commission from selling stoves and pellets in their communities.

We also employ full-time mobile direct sales representatives (DSR) serving many households. These DSR enroll “Ambassadors” among their first clients, who inform them of cook stove demand in their local village after using below-the-line marketing to talk to women about IAP and inefficient cooking

Powerstove path to financial sustainability cuts across the entire value chain, from manufacturing through to end-user. The funds we seek depends on where in the value chain we want to support and its relative level of maturity. At the startup and venture stage, Powerstove relies on grants and equity investments for business operations, as we progress into growth stage, we gradually introduce carbon financing and convertible subordinated debt which is an instrument that offers some return that is commensurate with the market, but without putting pressure on the company to make that return. Payback is triggered when the enterprise reaches minimum cash flow levels.

Again, as Powerstove gets to mature stage, we will fund our activities through Debt and Equity. At this stage our focus will shift to support management development and capacity building, through a Results-Based Financing. At this stage we can be able to demonstrate improved performance against agreed reportable indicators aligned with organisation strengthening, such as demonstrating internal audit capability or using a competitive tendering process.     

Also, Powerstove consumer-focused financing will bypassing external consumer finance providers to become loan providers ourselves; extending credit to customers from our own balance sheets, enabling Base-of-Pyramid customers to purchase products. We will explore other impact capital that could be made available to enterprises in the form of low yield debt, strengthening our balance sheets such that we can lend directly to the customer to enable the purchase of the cooking fuel and ICS product, with repayment facilitated by monthly installments. 

1. Funding: Powerstove is currently raising funds to finance expansion of number of mobile kiosks across Nigeria to increase revenue, number of jobs and users. At $1,500 the cost of constructing mobile kiosks and stocking inventory will create 7 new jobs and provide Powerstove $3,000 monthly revenue. Imagine what happens when Powerstove have 100 Branded Mobile Kiosks? Any financial assistance will be highly appreciated.

2. Market Access: Powerstove is open to Result-Based Financing (RBF) opportunities across Sub-Saharan Africa, any recommendation from Solve to SNV, DFID, USAID, GIZ EnDev and FAO is greatly appreaciated.

3. Carbon Financing: Powerstove remains one of the few clean cookstove company that pays users carbon funds from cooking. This funds paid in US Dollars improves these household livelihoods and also help make our world a better place. Powerstove will be grateful, if Solve can provide linkages to Carbon Financing organizations to offtake carbon offsets generated from cooking with Powerstove.

1. Advisory Services: Powerstove will be grateful to receive high-level volunteers that can serve in our Advisory Board. Nominations from professionals within our industry will be highly appreciated.

2. Marketing, and media exposure: Powerstove will be grateful to receive marketing, publicity and media of our products and impact stories. This can help us to strengthen our position in the competitive market and improve our product confidence  

Powerstove will like to partner with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and UKAid for BRILHO a five-year programme, 2019 - 2024, that will catalyse Mozambique’s off-grid energy market in order to provide clean and affordable energy solutions to the country’s off-grid population. BRILHO’s overall goal is to improve and increase energy access for people and businesses, leading to money saving, better well-being and livelihood opportunities for the low income population.

Powerstove has submitted an Expression of Interest to participate in the BRILHO programme. We will happy if Solve can send letter of recommendation to SNV and UKaid to help in Powerstove selection. Here is the BRILHO website https://brilhomoz.com/

We know refugees need food, water, shelter, and medicine, but less attention is paid to their energy and cooking needs. Powerstove helps communities to build their access to fuel and energy for cooking, heating, lighting, and powering for crisis-affected populations. 

More than a third of the world's population relies on traditional fuels—wood, coal, animal dung, and agricultural waste—for their energy needs, including cooking and lighting in their homes. The challenges of accessing clean energy are numerous, and unsustainable, particularly during complex emergencies and protracted crises.

Powerstove recognizes safe and sustainable access to energy as a human right—essential for the safety, well-being, and productivity of the people the humanitarian community serves. Because of the cross-cutting nature of energy use and access, Powerstove combines improved technologies, alternative fuels, and livelihood and environmental activities to:

• Provide emergency support for cooking, lighting, heating, and powering needs to ensure the safety and well-being of displaced people, especially women and girls who are typically the most vulnerable during crises;
• Help to shift communities away from dangerous and destructive dependence on woodfuel and towards healthier and more sustainable options;
• Reduce exposure to risk of gender-based violence and other threats faced primarily by women and girls during firewood collection and while navigating communal areas of the camp; and
• Reduce the negative health impacts of indoor air pollution from burning solid fuels in enclosed spaces for cooking, lighting, and/or heating purposes.
• Improve livelihoods of Refugees from Carbon Financing and Fuel Savings which amounts to $420 per user per annum.

Powerstove is working with local women-owned and physically-challenged persons NGOs to achieve grass root product acceptability, door-to-door distribution, assembling and repairs. Before now, women are never seen or engaged in technical activities within the clean cookstove industry while the physically-challenged persons are left to continue begging for alms; however, Powerstove has recruited them and inspired them to become change-agents in their community. The women are championing 'Light Every Home' initiatives at the community level while those immobile physically challenged persons have been trained on product assembling and repairs and they have confirmed that their income, livelihood and respect have been increased since they joined Powerstove.

Also, each Powerstove Branded Mobile Kiosks provides employment to 7 women, who are trained on marketing, bookkeeping and digital literacy on how to use smartphone to manage all business operations and inventories in the kiosk. The Innovation for Women Prize money will help Powerstove to select, train and empower 50 women plus 350 all-women direct employment. Each Branded Kiosk will be equipped with Powerstove products worth $1,200, which will increase her livelihood and that of her family, create local employment and improve local economy of the community. These kiosks will provide products that directly benefit 22,000 homes, enabling these homes to be free from indoor toxic air pollution, save money on cooking fuels and and receive carbon funds all totaling $420 per user or $9,240,000 (for 22,000 homes) per annum, helping them to improve family nutrition, send children to school and afford basic healthcare. 

Since 2018, Powerstove has used mobile networks to help advance the economic, health and environmental objectives of women in rural communities; by providing an affordable, reliable, mobile-phone-based monitoring device which has equipped under-tapped marginalized women as powerful change-agents in the push for clean cookstove adoption through digital skills. Reason is that women/girls are responsible for household cooking, including collecting fuelwood, and because they are most vulnerable to the health and socio-economic costs of traditional cooking practices; involving women results in more sales and better technology adoption. Powerstove women now uses smartphones to transaction their businesses and earn decent income

During the recruitment process, Powerstove identifies marginalized women, prioritizing those with children. With help from local NGOs, CBOs or village leaders we identify these active poor women in the communities; some women also approach us directly. Powerstove trains these women for four days. The TRAINING INCLUDES COURSES ON HOW to use our large-screen smartphone to learn BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL TOPICS, such as customer service, product ordering, troubleshooting and bookkeeping. In order to improve the training and make it more consistent for the women, Powerstove have a full-time education team working on digital skill curriculum development

In April 2020, Powerstove has 50 women from the pilot demonstration of our digital skills and consumer management. These women without prior IT knowledge successfully used smartphones to manage consumers, product ordering, sales, mobile payments and after sales support services. The Prize Money will help us train more 550 local women in digital literacy.