That is why Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu determined to take a recent method to meals waste. He is the founding father of ColdHubs, which offers solar-powered meals storage models designed for markets and farms.
Formally launched in 2015, ColdHubs now has 54 models in 22 states throughout Nigeria. Greater than 5,250 smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers use its chilly rooms and in 2020, the corporate saved 40,000 tons of meals, lowering waste and growing farmers’ earnings.
“That is meals meant for human consumption that we usually lose alongside the provision chain, both throughout harvesting, transportation, or distribution,” says Ikegwuonu. “The mission actually is to scale back meals spoilage attributable to lack of chilly meals storage at key factors alongside the meals provide chain.”
Tackling a meals waste disaster
Storing a crate of produce within the ColdHub prices round 25 cents per day, and has helped farmers and retailers double their month-to-month earnings, says Ikegwuonu: “This has been achieved by promoting produce that was beforehand thrown away, bought off on the proper worth.”
Scaling up
Seeking to the long run, Ikegwuonu says ColdHubs can also be growing know-how to freeze produce, for fishing communities within the Niger Delta. “A lot of the coastal communities do not have entry to power in any respect,” he says, including that these freezer storage models would even have the capability to provide ice blocks.
“We now have been capable of create about 66 new jobs for girls,” he says. “Many of those girls have turn out to be empowered and alter brokers of their households and communities.”
Ikegwuonu says his present focus is on increasing the enterprise additional in Nigeria — however within the subsequent decade, he has his sights set on different international locations combating comparable meals waste issues.
“The large dream for us is to resolve the issue of meals spoilage in Nigeria, and broaden our know-how and repair to different African international locations which have these challenges,” he says.
