- RVO and Charm Impact are set to provide funding to deploy clean cooking solutions in Africa.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Charm Impact, an impact investment platform based in London, UK, have signed a partnership to facilitate the financing of clean cooking solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
RVO will provide Charm Impact with operational capital as part of this partnership. This funding will allow the platform to expand its portfolio in clean cooking. The alliance between RVO and Charm Impact is expected to reduce deforestation by supporting alternatives to charcoal and wood for cooking, which are widely used in cities and villages in sub-Saharan Africa.
The platform plans to focus its next investments on early-stage clean cooking solution providers based in Africa. And on the continent, there are already start-ups interested in this segment, such as Nigeria’s Powerstove, which has developed a clean cooking solution based on biomass.
Among the companies accelerating the expansion of their clean cooking solutions in sub-Saharan Africa is the British company Bboxx, which focuses on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Koko Networks is offering bioethanol-fuelled stoves in East Africa. The Nairobi, Kenya-based company has just signed a partnership with the Rwandan authorities to set up a national network of bioethanol cooking fuel vending machines, with an investment of $25 million.