“Kill two birds with one stone” is a common English idiom meaning two problems are solved with one solution. Killing two birds with one stone is considered a clever accomplishment, but why not three? Founded in 2011, Green Bio Energy is a Kampala-based social enterprise which does just that.
Following the business philosophy of “people, planet, profit,” Green Bio Energy produces and distributes organic charcoal briquettes. Replacing wood charcoal with organic briquettes helps ease environmental concerns, solves waste management issues in local communities and fosters sustainable development.
Carbonized Briquettes Vs. Wood Charcoal
According to Green Bio Energy, wood and wood-derived charcoal is the most commonly used cooking fuel in East Africa. Citing the 2009-2010 Uganda National Household Survey, Green Bio Energy asserts that 76 percent of people in Kampala use charcoal as their primary fuel for cooking. Along the streets of Uganda’s capital, large pots of matooke (plantain) and beans simmer over charcoal stoves for hours at a time.
The current situation poses several problems. According to David Gerard, business development manager at Green Bio Energy, the environmental fallout of consuming wood charcoal cannot be ignored.
“Over the last 20-30 years, a huge part of the natural forest in Uganda has disappeared. We have to do something to stop this if we want to preserve the ‘pearl of Africa’ . . . Last year in Kasese, villages had to move because the river had flooded the area. The people were left without homes; all part of the huge problem of deforestation,” Gerard explained.
Along with local concerns, deforestation in East Africa exacerbates worldwide environmental issues.
“This is an international problem in terms of climate change. The carbonization and burning of wood charcoal produces huge amounts of carbon emissions,” Gerard added.
The environmental damage also puts financial strain on ordinary Ugandans, as deforestation drives the price of wood charcoal higher and higher.
“The original idea [of Green Bio Energy] was to help communities, to help people who had problems buying their daily charcoal for cooking. From one side, the prices are increasing because deforestation is becoming a bigger problem. On the other side, having no real waste management here in Kampala was a problem as well,” Gerard said.
Pushing the Environment to the Forefront
Connecting these two environmental issues — the negative effects of wood charcoal and city streets cluttered with waste — led to the creation of Green Bio Energy’s central product: Briketi. Briketi is the company’s brand of organic charcoal briquettes composed of dried organic waste, charcoal dust, and any type of starch, such as cassava flour, to serve as a binder.
“Between the deforestation and the waste, we thought there must be something that can be done to stop cutting trees down and, at the same, time, use what is available. Organic waste and charcoal dust can be recycled and transformed into briquettes for cooking,” Gerard said.
Not only do the briquettes meet one environmental concern with another, they also relieve the strain on low-income households.
“People are struggling to raise enough money to buy their daily fuel, so our price has been set just below the price of wood charcoal,” Gerard said. The price of wood charcoal is set at 1000 Ugandan shillings ($0.40) for 1kg, while Briketi sells at 900 shillings ($0.37) for 1kg.
“The briquettes are cheaper than the charcoal, but it still covers all of our production costs. We are able to present to the market an affordable product that also has more benefits than regular charcoal. The briquettes we are making burn longer, which is more economical for the consumer,” Gerard explained.
Measuring Performance
Briketi’s actual performance is empirically developed by company personnel. Just outside the Green Bio Energy office, Dieudonne, the housekeeper, sits by a charcoal stove with a pot of water boiling over it. Next to him there is a notebook where he has written down the time, keeping track of how long the briquettes have been burning.
“This one burns for one and a half hours; this one burns for two and half,” Dieudonne stated, holding up the smaller and larger versions of the Briketi product for comparison.
Although cheaper charcoal that burns longer seems like a win-win, Green Bio Energy has had to explore different ways to break into local markets. While the middle and upper classes have readily received the new product, progress has been gradual with low-income customers.
“The main segment of the market that we are targeting is the base of the pyramid. It’s completely different from other segments of the market. . . . People are not ready to spend money on new things. They can be curious about a new product, but they don’t have the budget for this curiosity. We are talking about the population that is earning maybe less than a dollar a day,” Gerard explained.
Joining and Expanding the Green Bio Energy Movement
Through advertising and the middle and upper classes, Briketi is slowly penetrating the base of the pyramid. In addition to the charcoal briquettes, Green Bio Energy also tests and produces coal-preserving stoves designed for various uses. The stoves are set at a higher price than the non-efficient alternatives on the market, but they reduce the cost of fuel and save customers money over a period of time.
While Green Bio Energy seeks to sell Briketi to local customers, it has also created opportunities for communities to become part of the process. There are three key ways people can develop sustainable business around the product: first, they can collect and dry their own organic waste and sell it to Green Bio Energy; second, they can sell Briketi as a retailer; thirdly, they can invest in Ugandan-made machines to produce the briquettes on their own. Every step of the way, Green Bio Energy provides training and support.
“Our training is not just about making briquettes. It’s also about understanding the market,” Gerard stated. “We’re training them in briquette making but also in general market knowledge, as well as business skills to help them manage sustainable businesses.”
Already, some of these new businesses have experienced success. After a year of using a carbonizer and the most basic press to produce briquettes, several communities have come back to Green Bio Energy to ask how they can upscale their production.
Fuelled by local success, Green Bio Energy believes that their model can be replicated in other East African countries.
“So far we are concentrating on Kampala. Our long-term goal is to spread the knowledge, technology and product across Uganda and then go beyond Uganda to other East African countries ,” Gerard said.
“We have started studying neighbouring countries and our model is absolutely replicable. The raw material is plentiful in most of those countries. The cooking habits — using foods like matooke, sweet potatoes — are common in all East African countries and the charcoal dust in the streets is readily available in Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Congo.”
Green Bio Energy has tackled multiple layers in the arena of household fuel consumption; they appear to have successfully matched environmental problems, waste management issues, and sustainable development goals. If this model achieves success in Uganda, it could potentially spread across the region.
“We’re helping people preserve their planet and create revenue,” Gerard stated.
People, planet, profit. Three birds. One stone.