Our company started 3 new pilots in Tanzania’s Mara region with the NGO Global Resources Alliance and a sponsorship from Finland with Wärtsilä Corporation. Mara region is on shore of lake Victoria, where solar thermal energy can play a key role in improving livelihoods of rural people.
It was for a us a new partner with the US-Tanzanian NGO Global Resource Alliance and starting in a new country, with many new challenges. 3 groups were identified by our partner and got Lytefire 5 devices to improve their business activity.
Sponsored by Wärtsilä corporation and in cooperation with Global Resource Alliance, this project enables solar entrepreneurship in high-impact areas where people are in dire need of a clean and affordable energy solution.
In Musoma, the Alpha Women’s group is operating a bakery selling bread and cakes made from wheat and kassava flour. They used simple pots and charcoal for baking as they haven’t been able to invest in a proper oven yet.
The second group, Tujijenge, is producing both dehydrated fish and baked goods like the groups above, but they also engage in roasting peanuts and baked sweet potatoes. Every month they spend about $400 in charcoal expenses, and we were happy to see that the Lytefire5 is making a big financial difference.
The last one will use a newly developed solar dehydrator design to dry Tilapia fish. Currently, like so many entrepreneurs in Tanzania, they use firewood to do this. With Lytefire they can save the money they spend now on fuel and also produce a higher quality product with no burnt wood taste.
Impact: in 2017, 9 additional Lytefire were installed in Tanzania and Kenya, 54 entrepreneurs were trained in different communities of entrepreneurs in both countries, we estimate 134 tons of yearly CO2 saving and our demos events reached over 2000 people in different location. Data and economics collection is ongoing during all 2018.
Watch below our short presentation of the achievements in Kenya and Tanzania. The video presenting solar baking women was commissioned to Global Resource Alliance and done by local video maker.
Watch also a 11 minutes film of our actions in Kenya and Tanzania
Here Wärtsilä’s video about their sponsorship.
Global Resources Alliance website is here.
