Manufacture and sale of waste-based charcoal briquettes and organic fertilizere
Innovation Type:
Water-Energy-Food
Product Segment:
Energy – Farm Input
Country of Incorporation:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Country of Implementation:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Company Stage:
Stage 1: 0 to 101 end-users
Seeking Investment:
Yes, $1 million USD
Financing Goals:
Seeking equity (angel investor, venture capital or private equity)
Seeking debt (commercial or DFI)
Seeking combination of debt and equity
Seeking hybrid (convertible debt or similar)
Seeking corporate investors
Contact Name:
Patrick Kabangiro Tafuta
Contact Email:
Challenges
Demand for domestic energy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is high, but only 1% of the population in rural areas and 15% in urban areas have access to electricity. The lack of appropriate energy sources leads the majority of the population to use wood as a source of cooking energy (firewood and charcoal) resulting in the destruction of 400,000 hectares of forest each year.
The DRC faces food insecurity due to insufficient agricultural productivity caused by drought, land infertility, and aggressive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, accentuating the problem of poverty. Faced with this situation, farmers are resorting to creating new arable land which leads them to fell trees and burn forests, intensifying the effects of climate change.
Solutions
PKT and Partners provide rural, semi-rural, and urban communities with an ecological charcoal solution capable of enabling clean cooking. The Makalos charcoal briquette is made from biodegradable waste collected from cities.
Their innovation also impacts the farmers who use their product, Bilanga Bio, which is a soil amendment (i.e., material that is added to soil to improve its physical or chemical properties) and organic fertilizer. The product provides farmers with the possibility of continuing to use existing and/or their usual fields without resorting to new land. This allows them to accelerate their crops’ growth as well as increase production yield and income.
