Arise and Shine Bakery, Kenya

Dear solar friends,

Why hasn’t solar thermal taken off?

This question has been with us every day since we started Lytefire.

I say it hasn’t taken off, because we don’t see solar concentrators everywhere, yet.
Yes, there are many solar cookers, and yes, there are a few very large power plants concentrating sunlight to produce electricity, but… the entrepreneurs and DIYers using Lytefire: We are still very very few.

Where do we go from here?

I once heard that a new technology can only grow if it can work as a luxury product, or a military good. It’s true that it is hard to produce cheaply, when you produce little. But does everything need to be industrialized to reach people?

What would happen, if we had the option to create high-temperature, efficient, powerful energy to power our needs, ourselves?
This was the idea behind the Lytefire design: Something that can be built locally, maintained by the people themselves. Something that creates real energy independence!

This idea of a human-scale tech that, paired with entrepreneurship, could spread differently from other technologies. And not only tackle the innovation issue, but also the social, political, climate and economic issues surrounding energy. This is what we have been working for over the last 14 years. We want to prove that not only renewable energy access can be solved, it can be solved in a way that empowers people.

So, in the background, since a few months, we have been working on a project to capture and bundle all the knowledge and experience around Lytefire for the next generation of entrepreneurs and DIYers.

And these days we are happy to release the very first results of this ongoing work!

Through this newsletter, we are releasing the interview we did with the Arise and Shine Group in Kenya, located in Salgaa town, about halfway between Nairobi and Lake Victoria.

This is one of the groups that we were able to equip, train and incubate thanks to the support of the Jansen PrimeSteps foundation. For us, their persistence and success in this tough climate has meant a lot over the last months! Get to know them for yourself:

Watch the Video:

Watch the video via EcoAgTube

Also, I myself had to get in front of the camera 🙂 and we will start to release a few clips from that session in the coming days as well.
The first post is already out on LinkedIn here, and on Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon. More to come in the coming days, so follow us!

We are working on finding the right format for all this knowledge to put it together into a new package. We are planning to crowdfund around that to accelerate things. These days we are also reviewing our DIY construction plans, how we provide support at-distance, as well as how we do our humanitarian work with our NGO clients and partners. Wherever we can do to enable more people with Lytefire, we want to do it!

So it’s a good moment if you have feedback or questions about Lytefire!

In the end, I think that solar thermal hasn’t taken off because nobody has made it known enough, appealing enough, easy enough, powerful enough. The Lytefire is already powerful. We can make it easier. And eventually, we’ll get the word out!

Have a great rest of the day,
Urs

-- 
Urs Riggebach

Co-Founder, Head of Ops & Board Chair
Visit our website | Lytefire

You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and YouTube. 
This newsletter is meant to inform you about our company, the spread of Lytefire solar thermal solutions and the educational programs. If you do not wish to receive it, you can unsubscribe below. Your newsletter data is not used for anything other than receiving this newsletter. See our Privacy Policy and General Terms © 2026 Lytefire, Toimitilat Tampere CT - Pakkahuoneenaukio 2 - 33100 Tampere - Finland.  

Dear solar friends,
Since the beginning of the year, we have been more outspoken on social media. Solar baking, solar cooking and what Lytefire does… it is still not well known and we think it’s important to work on that too.

Entrepreneurs like Joan in Kenya, Prudence and Benedict in Uganda, Michel, Denis, Manon et Quentin, Vincent, Romain and many others (and their teams!) are some of the most courageous entrepreneurs out there, and they work with a Lytefire.

Hopefully we can get all of them more known. ARTE, the French/German TV channel, has released a documentary talking about innovation and the energy transition globally, and Lytefire is part of it. Until June 14th, you can watch the documentary for free in French and in German. See minutes 18:00-23:30.

Beyond that, the global news is depressing. Energy costs are rising, the climate is heating, and geopolitically much damage is done.

But for us this is all the more reason to push for local, sovereign, regenerative energy as the basis of dignified, sustainable jobs and livelihoods. On one hand we get to do this with our humanitarian clients and partners, on the other hand, since the beginning we have been empowering DIYers to build Lytefire wherever they are.

In this global context we think that DIY is, more than ever, an important strategy to disseminate Lytefire to new places. It’s all about empowering individuals directly with the knowledge they need to build their energy access.

One thing we have learned from the DIYers is that people are creative and always interested in exploring new possibilities. Many have asked if they can build both the oven and the cooker, not just one or the other. This is why we have decided to repackage our construction guides in a different way. One is the starter package, aimed at those starting out in the simplest way, only interested in the cooker. And the other one, the builder package, is for those more ambitious who want to build either the cooker, the oven or both. This package comes with dedicated support hours (via phone, whatsapp, email) to help you succeed your local build providing real, human advice tailored to you.

We are also working on improving the DIY experience in other ways. We’ll tell you more about it in our next newsletter (you will probably receive 2 or 3 before Summer).

One more thing: Some of you have known us for 14 years now and you know that we are a team of doers, not very inclined to marketing. For years, people have sent us nice comments, pictures, messages and now we have decided to bring light on all the successes. The result is a new website reflecting the growing number of Lytefire users. Check it, and share it!
We need you: Contact us for a project, put us in touch with motivated people and connect us to the media. Thank you!

Looking back on the last 24 Lytefires installed

In the rest of this newsletter we want to recap our successful and less successful projects in the humanitarian sector globally over the last months.

The humanitarian sector is at stake everywhere. Still, 24 Lytefire PRO have been installed in Kenya, Uganda, Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Angola with our humanitarian partners and clients.

We are grateful to all our NGOs clients and users, our investors, our team and board members, and to Metco, our Kenyan manufacturer.

In East Africa, we have continued to work in Kenya and Uganda thanks to the support of PrimeSteps Foundation. The Foundation is focused on poverty alleviation through entrepreneurship. Joan Arwa delivered great trainings to allow the creation of 6 solar baking activities powered by Lytefire. The groups have been identified with the help of World Vision Kenya. In order to facilitate appropriation, each community had to invest in the project by preparing a kitchen, work environments and a flat and steady ground. The baking activities have started in Sego, Funuyla and Salgaa. Some groups are only women entrepreneurs and we were really happy to see that they were able to install the Lytefire by themselves. The Arise & Shine group is one of the most promising ones. We have captured their experience and we’ll soon share it with you.

In Ethiopia, Stem Synergy has produced and deployed 7 Lytefire units. They have been very courageous in doing so because of the local conflicts, the rise of material prices and the discontinuation of government programs meant to support youth entrepreneurship through microloans.

In Angola, we have been very pleased to see that each solar oven has been properly installed by the local teams with minimal support from us. What happened with the UNDP is exactly what we wish to encourage in the future! We love to see people being autonomous. It gets the local people involved directly, rooting the knowledge locally. That is also why we want to reinforce our DIY approach this year.

The 3 ovens have been installed for the UNDP in Benguela, Lua Norte and Uige.

In West Africa, things have been more challenging, especially in Senegal. ADSCAL Association contacted us a long time ago to equip 3 small bakeries in the village of Agnam. Another oven has been installed for a group of women baking biscuits and cakes. The women’s oven is in use, but the switch to solar baking operations for the other ones has been very challenging. For once, we have experienced a long series of blockages: from delays in the delivery to issues during installation. Add to this bad weather conditions, with hazy weather that is not allowing full performance. We’re still working on it to find a solution. In Guinea-Bissau, 3 solar ovens have also been installed in Bafata, Cacheu and Oio with SWISSAID.

In Haiti. For those of you who have supported Mackenson in 2024 with us to create Pain Soleil, here is an update.

When Makenson reached out to us in late 2023 with a half-built Lytefire we were honestly really touched. We decided to support him like we did so many times with other entrepreneurs. Our community pulled through and within a few weeks we had the money together and sent it. Even before that we sent him our latest construction guide to support his work.

After the campaign Mackenson managed to build the Lytefire and he created the terrasse for it, we have received these images below after we transferred the funds. But sadly he was not able to continue. He must have used a part of the money to support his family instead of investing it in the bakery because there have been several raids in Port-au-Prince, with lots of violence. The government left in January 2024, right when our crowdfunding campaign for him was over. Since then gangs have been ruling the country because of political instability. Now, there’s a businessman who’s served as the acting prime minister since 2024, who became the country’s sole leader a few weeks ago. Later in 2024 we received that update and he mentioned he is using the oven for his family and for the neighbors. Then we didn’t hear anything more about the bakery. Of course the situation in Haiti is terrible. Maybe he will be able to restart activities, we don’t know.

Europe: France

Yes, this newsletter is already long, but wait.

3 women have decided to start their solar bakeries. They are inspired by the examples of NeoLoco in Normandy and Barasol in Brittany. Mathilde et Tiphaine, are starting the solar bakery Facettes, in West France. This Summer, Naig will launch Pamie, the first solar bakery on the island of Belle-Île, in Brittany. Both got their Lytefire built by Grégoire, in Grenoble.

☀️

Have a great Sunday,
Eva

-- 
Eva Wissenz

Founder & Managing Director
Visit our website | Lytefire

You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and YouTube. 
This newsletter is meant to inform you about our company, the spread of Lytefire solar thermal solutions and the educational programs. If you do not wish to receive it, you can unsubscribe below. Your newsletter data is not used for anything other than receiving this newsletter. See our Privacy Policy and General Terms © 2026 Lytefire, Toimitilat Tampere CT - Pakkahuoneenaukio 2 - 33100 Tampere - Finland.  

SUNNY PROJECTS

This newsletter is in French. Please click here to translate this newsletter.

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Ce sont des images du clip si fort "Sabali". Des jeunes migrants Sénégalais se libèrent d’un camp. Cette musique de Amadou et Mariam, puis de DJ Snake qui utilise son succès inter-planétaire pour parler des migrants. “Sabali” signifie “Patience”. Ce clip vu par plus d’1 million de gens raconte l’exil parce qu’ici c’est trop pauvre pour rester.

Les migrants risquent tout.

Là, c’est une image du fils des fermiers de la ferme, celle qu’on voit là-haut, au-dessus de ce mur de la honte construit pour empêcher le passage des migrants, à Tecate, à la frontière mexicaine avec les Etats-Unis. Sous la photo installée par le photographe JR un grand pique-nique a été organisé un jour, les gens se passant les œufs durs et le sel entre les barreaux.

Voici des paroles de IAM, célèbre groupe de rap marseillais. "Nous".

"Génération, lassée d’être blasée
Métissés, métèques ou basanés
On marche avec des trous au fond des poches
Mais on grimpe aux barbelés par la force, ouais. "

Tout ça parle de nous tous. Nous sommes tous des migrants, de cette génération ou d’une génération précédente.

De mon côté sicilien, ce ne sont que des histoires de migration. C’est dans le sang, c’est comme ça. Partir quand tu n’as rien, t’en aller chercher mieux, et ça n’a rien de romanesque, rien.

C’est dangereux, c’est compliqué, c’est dur.

Je me suis souvent dit avec Lytefire que si on arrivait à installer un peu plus d’artisans solaires dans les villages d’Afrique, on arriverait peut-être à relancer quelque chose de local, à taille humaine. Tout en évitant de détruire les forêts. Du moins ce qu’il en reste.

Au plus les fascistes avancent, au plus je me le dis et pour une fois je crois même que j’ai raison. Je crois même que je vais voir ça de mon vivant. Ouais.

Il y a tout un tas d’obstacles-barbelés à dépasser, c’est sûr, mais on va y arriver.

On est l’humanité, et rien ne nous a jamais arrêté d’aimer et de s’entraider.

Merci aux artistes incroyables qui nous le rappellent.

Merci à toutes les utilisatrices et les utilisateurs de Lytefire, merci à nos clients, nous soutiens, tous nos amis.

Bonne année bon sang.

☀️

• Lien vers le clip de DJ Snake (YouTube)
• Lien vers le travail de JR au Mexique
• Lien vers “Nous” de IAM (YouTube)
• Lien vers les projets de petites boulangeries solaires en cours au Kenya avec le soutien de la Fondation Primesteps Jansen (Lytefire Blog)

☀️

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SUNNY PROJECTS

Click here if you wish to translate this newsletter.

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We have received a great support from a Swiss Foundation, a heart warming prize and we’re happy to see more Lytefires in use. Here is our latest sunny news for you!

→ Six new solar bakeries thanks to the Jansen PrimeSteps Foundation

We are happy and honored to start a new project in East Africa with the trust and support of the Jansen PrimeSteps Foundation. The foundation is focused on poverty alleviation through entrepreneurship, and with this new project PrimeSteps is going to help us elevate our work and increase our impact in Kenya.

A few years ago, the Foundation already supported the empowerment of women’s groups in Burkina Faso. For this new project, we will provide our usual training that covers the technical aspects of the technology (use, maintenance, safety) and the basis of entrepreneurship training will cover stock management, accounting, customer acquisition, among the many other topics, to enable each group to succeed as independent entrepreneurs. For the best success of the entrepreneurs, the project will also provide incubation support beyond the initial training, to troubleshoot any entrepreneurial challenges during the startup phase. We believe this incubator approach is more and more the way Lytefire will structure our impact-oriented work.

Image credit: Jansen PrimeSteps Foundation’s website

Every Lytefire installed can protect 651 m² of forest each year from being cut down for fuel. Learn more about our impact here and about our educational work here.

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→ Prix Afrique Excellence: Joan Arwa’s Solar Fire Bakery is a winner

Le Prix Afrique Excellence is a French prize organized by an association created by Mr Christian Teyssonnière de Gramont. The goal is to highlight Africa’s skills and solutions adapted to people’s contexts. It aims to bring to light good innovations, practices and business models that reinforce the local African economy in a sustainable way. A financial donation is given to the 3 winners.

A total of 68 great projects have been submitted for this year’s edition.

Announcement (in French): “Le Prix Afrique Excellence tient à remercier les participants au Concours qui se sont portés candidats. Ils sont au nombre de 68.

This support is a fantastic recognition of Joan’s hard work over the last five years to make her Solar Fire Bakery dream come true. With her as the chief baker, Cheryl and the team of bakery assistants and sales persons, Joan also recently obtained the Kenyan Bureau of Standard’s KEBS-certification granting her access to more markets, such as schools, hospitals, and more. With the Prize’s financial support, she’ll be able to invest in a better transportation solution. This is of course also a beautiful recognition of Lytefire’s team’s hard work to spread new business models.

In Kisumu, Kenya, Joan was recently able to paint her new shop

This is of course also a beautiful recognition of Lytefire’s team’s hard work to spread new business models. In the team, Eva Wissenz, Urs Riggenbach and Muriel Fuhrer in particular have been supporting Joan’s journey over the last years.

Joan, Eva, Urs and Muriel

To learn more about Afrique Excellent and submit a project next year (in French only), check their website : https://www.afrique-excellence.com/

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→ Lytefire in Senegal with ADSCAL

Thanks to the ADSCAL Association and especially thanks to the extraordinary persistence of Mr Mouhamadou Touré, 4 solar ovens have been delivered in the village of Agnam. So many things have been delayed with this project but in the end, everything went well and the solar ovens will greatly improve the villager’s daily life. Three ovens are going to equip existing bakeries. One will go to a group of skilled women baking biscuits and cakes.

First solar oven installed by Michel and Isma

Mr Michel Mouillé, a very skilled trainer, delivered a short training on-site to install the first unit, show the maintenance, safety and usage. With the local help of Mr Abou Sow and Mr Isma Bah, they have solved a few challenges on the way, found solutions and always kept a positive spirit.

A good team of builders and change makers in Senegal

Due to delay in the transportation, the training had to be shortened but the first solar baking tests are showing encouraging results.

We will see how the villagers are going to use their solar ovens but if the 4 Lytefires are used 255 days a year to bake 40 kg of bread per day (which represents 272’000 150g baguettes), we estimate that they will prevent 66 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere. They will save 288 trees from being cut down and protect the equivalent of 2,604 m² of forest. These figures will be compared with data records and we’ll share about it.

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→ Lytefire in France

Manon and Quentin are now in their second summer of using Lytefire community cooker for food canning and training people to learn how to do so. They are using direct concentrated energy as well as an improved cookstove, which is great.

“We transformed our first summer vegetables into zucchini and mint cream, zucchini pickles, and eggplant caviar. Nearly 1,000 organic solar jars will soon be available at a nearby farm and on a weekly local market.”

Conserverie Fourmi is a project that we love to highlight because of their great approach based on learning by doing, great preparation and cooperation.

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→ Lytefire and you

This year, Lytefire’s team has already installed 18 big solar ovens in Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Angola, and Sri Lanka (soon). And the year isn’t over yet.

People are adapting to their new equipment. They change the baking and cooking organization. They make money locally. They stop cutting trees or using fossil fuels 10 months a year.

It is good but it is not enough if we really want to make an impact.

Stop reading the depressing news. Be part of the solutions.

Support our work by 1. Sharing our news in your network, 2. Contact us for a project or put us in touch with motivated people.

☀️

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This newsletter is meant to inform you about the spread of Lytefire solar thermal solutions and the educational programs. If you do not wish to receive it, you can unsubscribe below. Your newsletter data is not used for anything other than receiving this newsletter. See our Privacy Policy and General Terms © 2025 Lytefire Ltd - Crazy Town - Rautatienkatu 21 C, 33100 Tampere - Finland.

SUNNY PROJECTS

Click here if you wish to translate this newsletter.

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We are finally catching up with updates on the different projects we have been working on these last months in Mozambique, Kenya, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Ethiopia and Mexico. The website is updated and you can have a look here.

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→ Lytefire in Kenya with Word Vision

Joan Arwa surrounded by the training participants and solar bakers

As you know, Joan Arwa is successfully running her solar bakery in Kisumu. Not far from there, in Sego, she recently trained a great group supported by World Vision for the Noswet program. The group members have known each other for years and are very appreciated in the community.

Proud solar bakers from Sego’s group

As per their report: “The group has over 30 members and they chose 5 to be working in the bakery at all times. They open early morning and close late evening for 6 days of the week, each day they bake 25kgs of bread, scones and cakes.

“This community based group serves various clients ranging from bakery walk-in customers, to nearby retail shops, and schools who give orders in bulk.

“Being a long rainy season they have currently been substituting sunlight energy with charcoal backup as they continue serving clients. When there is sun, of course they make solar baking. They say they use both sources of energy to power the bakery. The group has been working on buying more baking tins to produce more.”

World Vision local staff highlights that the group makes profit everyday with the solar barking activity and invests in their development. Soon the data collection will start and it will be possible to quantify everything much better.

Inauguration day with World Vision

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→ Lytefire in Guinea-Bissau with SWISSAID

It is in three locations in Guinea-Bissau that Sam Rodrigues installed new Lytefire ovens with the equipment for the kitchens.

The Lytefire equipment arrives in Bafata, Senegal

Installation in Oio village, Senegal

The villages benefiting from this SWISSAID support are Bafata, Cacheu, and Oio.
This project was a bit stressful because the rainy season was about to start and everything had to be rushed to install the equipment and make the first tests. Sometimes, the weather wasn’t that great at all to bake with the sunlight.
As we are entering the rainy season in West Africa, we all are patiently waiting for better forecasts in a few months now. Then, the villages will be able to decide and organize for the best usage of their solar ovens.

Users participate to the installation process in Cacheu, Senegal

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→ What makes Lytefire unique?

If you don’t know our work that well and if our innovation isn’t clear yet to you, take 95 seconds to read this blog post.
And if you wish to introduce us to NGOs, Foundations and Sponsors, we are always welcoming new cooperation!

☀️

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This newsletter is meant to inform you about the spread of Lytefire solar thermal solutions and the educational programs. If you do not wish to receive it, you can unsubscribe below. Your newsletter data is not used for anything other than receiving this newsletter. See our Privacy Policy and General Terms © 2025 Lytefire Ltd - Crazy Town - Rautatienkatu 21 C, 33100 Tampere - Finland.

UNE NOUVELLE BOULANGERIE MI-BOIS, MI-SOLAIRE

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C’est sur la somptueuse île sauvage de Belle-Isle-en-Mer, en Bretagne, que Naig a décidé de se lancer. Elle nous a contactés il y a déjà longtemps, elle a observé les autres artisans solaires nourriciers, elle a bien entendu contacté NeoLoco et elle a décidé de se lancer. Sa boulangerie s’appellera PAMIE.

Naig a prévu deux cuissons avec son four à bois à l’intérieur du fournil où elle fera son pain la nuit : “ Au plus fort de la saison, je ne dépasserai pas 80 à 100 kg de pain par jour.” Elle se servira de sa Lytefire autant que possible certains jours, pour des biscuits aussi. Elle tient au four solaire pour faire des animations, et de la sensibilisation auprès des scolaires.

Bretonne d’origine, Naig porte son projet seule, motivée par la mémoire de ses grands-parents, dont un grand-père passionné par l’énergie solaire.

Afin de pouvoir commander son four à Grégoire, Naig a besoin d’un coup de main financier. Quelle que soit la somme finale de sa campagne, elle lui sera reversée donc votre soutien compte vraiment. Voici la page pour soutenir son beau projet si vous le pouvez : PAMIE

Et si vous avez des amis Bretons, Bretonnes, amoureux de la nature et du bon pain, partagez cette info.

Un grand merci d’avance !

☀️

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This newsletter is meant to inform you about the spread of Lytefire solar thermal solutions and the educational programs. If you do not wish to receive it, you can unsubscribe below. Your newsletter data is not used for anything other than receiving this newsletter. See our Privacy Policy and General Terms © 2025 Lytefire Ltd - Crazy Town - Rautatienkatu 21 C, 33100 Tampere - Finland.