SNV and GIZ to support winners of clean cooking innovation fund

The Cooking Energy Business Growth Fund (CEBGF) winners were announced this week during the SEforALL Forum in Kigali. As part of their award, SNV and partners GIZ  will support these 14 innovators helping to bring their business plans from ideas to fruition.

Competing entrepreneurs participated in a competitive process of submission of application, screening, detailed technical evaluation, due diligence, business plan preparation, and pitching to present their innovative cooking energy solutions, to a panel with representatives from the Government of Rwanda and the donors, to vet their business cases and development impact potentials. The pitches presented by entrepreneurs showcased their innovative solutions in cooking energy, as well as details of how they intend to use the CEBGF grant, to improve not only their products but also grow their businesses, to higher profitability. Winners of the fund include a variety of cooking energy innovations, including improved cooking stoves production, stove testing, briquettes and pellets production, as well as marketing and distribution of the products; and are varied in geographical locations of operations across the country, with eight located in Kigali City and 2 from the Western Province, 2 from the Eastern Province, 1 from the Southern Province and 1 from the Northern Province of Rwanda.

The entrepreneurs, who won the CEBGF grant funding, received business development support, including a business assessment, business training, and individualised consulting over the past two months; and will continue to receive constant follow-up and support from SNV and GIZ.

Rwanda’s Biomass Energy Strategy aims to reduce the percentage of households that use firewood by 30% before 2024 and entirely phase out charcoal in urban areas. In line with this, the Cooking Energy Business Growth Fund (CEBGF) for Rwanda was created to provide necessary resources to innovative businesses developing solutions to problems created by traditional cooking methods.

The Cooking Energy Business Growth Fund (CEBGF) comprises a series of partners to create the most successful initiative possible. Inkomoko Entrepreneur Development, Rwanda’s leading business development provider, offered capacity-building support through an accelerator program, including training, business assessment, investment readiness, and pitch preparation.

The 14 winners announced at SeforALL will receive a grant investment of 10 to 40 million RWF per winner from SNV to partly support the implementation of the presented business ideas in line with the business plans.

For more information

To read the full press release and see a list of the winners please visit here.