Kenya Climate Ventures (KCV), a World Bank Fund, just concluded a KSh 35 million (USD 350,000) investment in Sistema.bio to deliver sustainable renewable energy and agricultural solutions to farmers in Kenya.
In a press statement, Sistema.bio Country Manager Raymond Chepkwony noted that the convertible debt investment will help accelerate Sistema.bio’s expansion and growth of the existing market in Kenya, ensuring residents in rural areas gain access to clean energy by profitably managing all the waste in their households while safeguarding their health.
“We are on track to scale up our operations in Kenya and this round of funding will give us an opportunity to sustainably and positively impact more smallholder farmers and grow into different regions; initially in Kenya, but with an eye at regional expansion,”said Raymond.
On his part, KCV’s Chief Investment Officer, Paul Ohaga noted that the investment would help address sustainable agriculture while mitigating against climate change.
“Our investment in Sistema.bio reflects our commitment towards enterprises that work to elevate the climate agenda. We will continue to invest in enterprises that have community focus and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation,” said Paul.
To improve the affordability of the biodigester, Sistema.bio provides interest-free payment plans to farmers. This innovative approach increases access by smallholder farmers while keeping the monthly payments similar to what they would ordinarily spend on firewood, charcoal and LP Gas. The technology also provides added value to the farmers as they can now cook without smoke, avoid pulmonary diseases, increase the productivity in their farms with organic fertilizer, realize an adequate return on investment and save money and time.
Sistema generates revenues from sales of competitively priced high-performance bio-digesters and the sale of utility accessories suitable for cooking, heating, mechanical energy and electricity generation. The bio- digesters also produce bio fertilizer which increases the return on investment to the consumers.
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Sistema.bio opened operations in Kenya in 2017 and in less that one year it has already sold over 800 Hybrid Reactor biodigesters, giving access to clean cooking energy to thousands of consumers. Besides bringing one of the most innovative biodigestion technologies to Kenya, it also provides farmers with a proven service program, interest free financing, pre and post sales services and long term technical assistance. This has guaranteed an extremely high customer satisfaction level on Sistema.bio products and services both in Kenya and in the 8 countries around world where Sistema.bio has operations.
The rate at which our country is adopting eco-friendly technologies is encouraging. Top in the list is biodigester systems, replacing the old septic system.
The advantages of biodigester sanitation systems are multiple:
If one captures the methane, it can be used as biogas for cooking or heating.
it produces quality fertilizer for the lawn and garden.
It requires little to no maintenance.
It produces clean water which can be recycled for agriculture activities.
You save a lot of money and make the most out of all resources in the long run.