Last week I visited Arnaud Crétot in Normandy, who runs a solar bakery powered with our Lytefire 11 Solar Oven. He’s doing great. His solar roasted café made from lentils and chickpeas has just won a trophy (Trophées de l’innovation de l’Agroalimentaire), and his bakery business NeoLoco is expanding. I’ve personally started to be addicted to Arnaud’s sustainable coffee-alternative made from local ingredients so it comes as no surprise! 😉 He’s also now fully certified as organic producer. I was joined in my visit by team member and Lead Information Officer Muriel and impact investor Susanne.

Together we also shared his tasty and nutritious solar-baked sourdough bread:

We also visited CPM Industries, our commercial partners producing and selling Lytefire 5 and 11 "Deluxe" in France. They are producing at their factory in Normandie a high quality and fully mobile version of the Lytefire adapted to the French market. Really exciting to see first-hand!

In the evening we joined an event organized by les Vagabonds de l’énergie about the topic of solar entrepreneurship, hosted by Clément Bresciani in a panel with Muriel, Arnaud, and two new solarpreneurs we have introduced we have introduced in an earlier blog post. Associations like this are playing an important role in raising awareness, especially through the educational activities they offer to schools and during public events. Learn more about the solarpreneurs here: https://lytefire.com/solarpreneurs

A few days after my return yet another amazing news: Our Crowdfunding on Ulule is a success! 102% raised of our first goal, and 3 days left to complete as much of our second milestone as possible! Joan, Hashimu and Allen are super happy to soon receive their Lytefire and start a bakery in their communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. We all touched to tears with the amazing support of almost 200 supporters that made this possible, and we now deserve a good night’s rest after the big push it has been!

Join the crowdfunder here:
https://www.ulule.com/pioneers-solar-bakers-in-east-africa/