SUNNY PROJECTS

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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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