Challenge 

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2014 data, Kenya loses approximately 95 million litres of milk annually, accounting for USD 22.4 million annually, and the impact is mainly at the farm level. Post-harvest losses in the dairy industry include these losses at the farm level after milking and all through the market chain up to consumption. This is the raw, fresh milk or its various product forms that get spoilt due to poor handling and lack of cooling facilities.

Initiative

Savanna Circuit Technologies, a Kenyan youth-led manufacturing and last-mile distribution company, is tacking post-harvest milk loss by dairy farmers and cooperatives with portable solar milk coolers for dairy businesses. The coolers can be placed on any means of transportation and quality control equipment. It aims to enable cooling on transit, cut milk post-harvest loss and spillage while creating traceability through a smart dairy management system, and improve incomes for dairy businesses in East Africa.

Result 

Savanna's impact in Kenya is best illustrated through its support of farmer cooperatives and dairy hubs in 10 counties in vast dairy zones. Since 2019, Savanna has worked with various actors to pilot and commercialise their cold chain solutions. Milk transported via solar milk chillers is traceable and of high quality with no losses registered, as quality checks at the farm gate allow feedback in case of milk rejection. In addition, farmer's geolocation allows for optimised aggregation through router mapping. As a result, milk quality improved, and more volumes made it to markets, resulting in better incomes for farmers while creating over 650 green jobs. After a year, there was significant growth – more than 150% improvement - in key dairy performance indicators: milk quality, production, and farmer income, among others. Savanna Circuit Technologies is supported with funding from the UK government through the Kenya Catalytic Jobs Fund.

For more information, visit: www.sav-circuit.com

Challenge 

For decades, orthopaedics in Kenya have faced a lack of efficient and effective tools to aid the alignment of bones during treatment leading to the admission of patients. These circumstances often lead to deformities causing disability, especially among children. Further, 4-5 personnel are required during spica cast application, a type of cast that includes one or both legs and the waist, which is not only expensive but also difficult to manage for children with fractures of the lower limbs.

Innovation

Zakam Orthopaedics has designed a double extension traction machine - the hip spica table - that helps to align the bone, after which a hip spica cast can be applied. The device is aimed at lowering the cost of treatment, reducing deformities, reducing the number of surgeries and reducing turnaround time. It reduces the number of personnel required during spica cast application to two. The London Royal Academy of Engineering has selected the device as the most innovative technology in health. It also received rave reviews and support at local and international conferences. The popularity of the hip spica table led to crowdfunding from which five tables were produced and donated to five Kenyan hospitals: Kenyatta National Hospital, Thika level five hospital, Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital in Kayole Nairobi, Mbagathi hospital in Nairobi and Kangundo level five hospital in Makueni County. Zakam has been training orthopaedic teams to efficiently use the Hip Spica table to achieve the desired outcome.

Result

As a result of the innovation, there has been a reduction in admissions. Kenyatta national hospital, the leading hospital for all referral cases, has seen a significant decrease of approximately 62% in admissions of children with femur and pelvis fractures using this innovation. The device is growing in demand in other private and public hospitals. The company's long-term goal is to expand and reach out to other hospitals in and outside Kenya, which will reduce the importation of medical-related items, which is not only time-consuming but also very expensive. Zakam is supported with funding from UK government programmes - Energy Catalyst and Innovate UK.

For more information, visit: www.zakamortho.co.ke

Challenge 

Today’s livestock feeding practices are unsustainable. Current protein sources in animal feed cannot satisfy demand, causing deforestation, overfishing, and depleting natural resources. A third of or all organic produce on earth is wasted in landfill. While technologies are being developed to manage nutrients from waste using insects, these have centred around business models that won’t work in Sub-Saharan Africa and rely on costly waste transportation infrastructure.

Innovation

Mana develops containerised insect farms to manage waste. Mobile insect farms are deployed next to organic waste-producing sites such as farms, food processors, municipal waste and food warehousing and export businesses. Waste is loaded into the containers and supplied with fresh insects every month to turn the waste into fertiliser and animal feed on site. This allows farmers to turn waste into profit for themselves and the environment. Furthermore, it eliminates the need to pay for the waste to be transported vast distances in logistically poor areas.

Opportunity

Mana is in its early days; however, it recently began its first trials with two waste partners, and another two are coming online in January 2023. Mana's measure of success will include CO2 averted from waste transport, tonnes of fishmeal or soy meal displaced, and jobs created through hires to work on sites in Kenya and the UK. While it earns from the initiative, Mana aims to achieve profitability for its waste partners, empower farmers, and protect the environment. Mana is supported with funding from the Innovate UK Government programme.

For more information, visit: www.manabiosystems.com

Challenge 

In the global economy, the widespread use of diesel generators for off-grid power is no longer sustainable because of air pollution that causes harm to human health and the rising cost of diesel fuel. Biogas from waste is a sustainable alternative to diesel, particularly if solutions can use local waste processed on sites such as farms. However, there are many challenges to achieving efficient and reliable biogas combustion in small engines.

Innovation

CAGE Technologies (CTL) has developed smart engine technology that allows reliable, efficient biogas combustion with low emissions at a competitive cost. This world-leading solution enables CAGE biogas engines to deliver the same performance as a diesel engine of equivalent capacity, using low-quality biogas fuel containing up to 55% CO2. CAGE biogas machines work directly from low-pressure biogas produced through Anaerobic Digestion (AD). This is the first plug-and-play solution of its type and allows biowaste conversion through AD to electricity to power machinery, homes and communities. This improves lives and makes businesses in growing economies more efficient by eliminating reliance on expensive diesel.

Impact

CTL has worked with micro-AD global leader Sistema Bio to demonstrate CAGE generators in Kenya and is now commercially supplying CAGE 6KW biogas generators to the UK, India, Africa and Latin America. The generators have been a game-changer for off-grid communities who are delighted with their reliable performance that enables farm waste to replace diesel as a fuel with no compromise. By efficient combustion of gas and clever engineering, CAGE generators are proven to be 25% more efficient than commercially available alternatives giving customers significant savings. In addition, the intelligent CAGE engines exceed all global emissions standards. CTL is supported with funding from UK Government programmes - Energy Catalyst and Innovate UK.

For more information, visit: www.cagetechnologies.co.uk

Challenge 

Local entrepreneurs within Sub-Saharan Africa are financially excluded from gaining access to the finance they need to grow their high-impact businesses. The pervasive lack of available debt capital for early-stage local energy companies is because of difficulty in meeting collateral or personal guarantee requirements to borrow from commercial banks and microfinance institutions’ inability to meet their funding needs and existing investors’ low-risk tolerance, i.e., their minimum investment amount is too high, or they do not have the appropriate processes to assess the risk and adequately cater to earlier-stage local entrepreneurs. The Global Off-Grid Lighting Association’s latest data shows that in 2021, 97% of debt invested into off-grid energy went to just ten large majority of foreign-owned businesses. In addition, the latest projections from the International Renewable Energy Association indicate that 672 million people will remain without access to basic electricity in 2030, 85% of whom will be in Africa. To tackle this crisis, hundreds of local entrepreneurs are needed across the continent, running scalable, profitable businesses that provide clean energy solutions to those that need them most.

Innovation

Founded in 2018, Charm Impact’s mission is to combat financial exclusion for clean energy entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa who have challenges accessing the financing they need to grow their businesses. Charm has developed a specialised credit risk assessment tailored to assess locally owned companies at the earliest commercialisation stage. Companies that pass the credit risk assessment are provided loans ranging from £10,000 to £350,000 through Charm’s bespoke impact investment platform. Once the entrepreneurs have successfully repaid multiple loans, developing a meaningful credit history, Charm’s borrowers are far more attractive to other less risk-tolerant commercial investors. They can then present their credit profiles to later-stage investors and local financial institutions. This sets them on the pathway to scaling local markets and achieving impact at scale.

Impact

To date, Charm has provided 23 loans across Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and India with a combined value of £1.52m, improving energy for more than 350,000 people. Charm maintains no defaults across its portfolio and has had nine loans fully repaid. Of the open loan positions, 100% of capital is invested with locally owned and led companies, and 39% has supported female-led or female-founded companies. Charm Impact is supported with funding from UK government programmes - Energy Catalyst and Innovate UK.

For more information, visit: www.charmimpact.com

Challenge 

In collaboration with the Strathmore University Energy Research Centre (SERC) specialists in renewable energy (RE) research and training, Steamology is working to transform energy access. Steamology’s W2W (Water to Water) system using steam with zero emission for use in various industrial applications can speed up access to affordable, clean energy services for poor households and enterprises in Sub-Saharan-Africa and is open to both on-grid and off-grid solutions.

Innovation

Steamology’s W2W system uses renewable energy to power electrolysis to generate oxygen and hydrogen gas which is compressed and stored. The gas is then used to fuel Steamology’s energy-dense steam generator. High-pressure superheated steam is used to drive a turbine to do useful work generating electricity on demand. The W2W system has the following attributes: Zero emission - No CO₂, NOX, SOX, or particulates High power and torque - 10kW to 1MW range, scalable and modular units Low noise and thermal signature - Quiet vibration-free operation, low-temperature signature Operating temperature agnostic - Functional in a wide range of environments Low maintenance - Few moving parts made of standard engineering materials

Result 

The main technical output of the project is the W2W demonstrator housed in a 20ft ISO container. The operational demonstrator includes all aspects of the W2W cycle. The demonstrator has been built, commissioned, and tested, including in Kenya. The project has presented multiple technical and engineering challenges throughout and facilitated meaningful development of the W2W solution for zero-emission power. The W2W system has met the Energy Catalyst 7 scope for the Energy Trilemma, transforming energy access and considering gender equality and social inclusion. It is or provides: Clean: The W2W system is zero emission and aspires to be a cradle-to-cradle product avoiding rare or toxic materials Affordable: Economies of scale in the hydrogen industry are reducing CAPEX costs. The W2W system has low OPEX cost and long-life components. Security of supply and energy access: The W2W RE power and storage system can provide secure and reliable energy to communities in off-grid areas of SSA. In addition, the system’s modularity makes scaling up easier if/when future energy demands increase. Steamology is supported with funding from UK government programmes – Energy Catalyst and Innovate UK.

For more information, visit: www.steamology.co.uk

Challenge 

Post-harvest loss occurs when crops are spoiled or not properly processed before they reach market. Ineffective drying restricts possibilities of value-addition and meeting standards for export markets. World Food Programme estimates suggest that annual post-harvest food losses in Sub-Saharan Africa amount to more than $4 billion. This situation is broadly reflected in Kenya, where the lack of reliable, affordable drying systems that use renewable energy to provide controllable temperature results in large amounts of produce wasted or improperly processed and unable to secure a premium price

Initiative

The initiative provides farmers and agricultural processors with an affordable, reliable technology to dry a range of produce using renewable solar thermal energy. In 2019, EnSo began working on solar thermal energy as a potential alternative to the use of firewood in Kenya’s tea industry, with the support of Innovate UK. EnSo also designed and built containerised drying units at the Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI). These systems speed up the drying process of seeds that are then sold for tree planting and reforestation. The advantages of these systems include autonomous, off-grid operations, high performance and reliability. We are currently completing a project for drying Moringa, although the same system can be utilised with many agricultural products, including mango, pineapple and chilli. Moringa is the primary focus as it is an increasingly important crop for East Africa due to its drought resilience, with strong international markets that require a high-quality product.

Result 

The drying units previously installed by EnSo at KEFRI generate a consistent, manageable temperature of approx. 60 degrees Centigrade, reducing the time needed for drying seeds from 4 weeks to 4 days. By accelerating the drying process, KEFRI can increase the quantity of seeds it provides for tree planting and reforestation activities, leading to increased revenues. The solar thermal unit is also far more economical to operate than alternative systems using electrical heating. The innovation will deliver a wider impact in several ways. By the end of the current project, Greengold Moringa will have been equipped with a solar thermal drying system to dry increased quantities of Moringa leaf supplied by the 500 farmers they work with, 70% of whom are women.

For more information, visit: www.enso-impact.co.uk

Challenge 

Rice is an antiquated and wasteful USD 550 billion global industry feeding 3.5 billion people daily, and by 2050, this will be 6 billion, requiring 70% more rice. Yet, each year enough rice to feed 600 million people is lost from farm to fork, wasting food, energy and the resources deployed to grow that rice. Rice is the largest cash crop and the most significant agricultural polluter, with a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) footprint equivalent to aviation, which equates to 2.5% of all global GHG emissions. Specifically, rice is responsible for 10% of all global methane emissions.

Innovation

All current rice machines compensate for inefficiency with power, mechanically generating a pulsing pressure, creating heat, food loss, damaged rice and wasting power. Uniquely, Koolmill uses fluid dynamics to deliver a gentler, simpler, ultra-low power, cold process, producing more food from existing harvests, and at a higher quality, with less environmental impact.

Result 

Contributing to 16 SDGs and working towards Net Zero Carbon, Koolmill has pioneered a paradigm shift in milling technology, addressing the resulting $127 billion triple bottom line loss. By delivering more food from existing harvests with 90% less power, and less lost and damaged rice, Koolmill is driving rural industrialisation and the productive use of mini-grid power. Made affordable by a novel machinery as a service business model, now, all processors, regardless of size, gender, or location, can compete equally on price and quality in a shortened and re-balanced rice value chain. Koolmill is supported by the Innovate UK Government programme. Our ambition is to be recognised as a global thought leader for cereal processing and to rapidly grow a substantial international business, redefining the rice industry for the digital era. We seek to engage with funders, technology, manufacturing, potential commercial partners, and end users who share our passion, vision, and values to feed 10 billion people sustainably.

For more information, visit: www.koolmill.com