Divine Bamboo Group Ltd

The problem we are solving is lack of access to affordable clean cooking fuels. Over 98% of Ugandans still fully depend on fuel wood in the form of charcoal and firewood for their daily cooking needs. Additional stressors are the country’s high population growth rate (6 children per woman) and high poverty levels. Energy poverty is extremely high with only 15% of the Ugandan population currently has access to electricity.

Our solution is bamboo briquettes which are 30% cheaper than traditional charcoal and burn cleaner with no smoke. They also cook for longer at 70 minutes burning time compared with 45 minutes of charcoal and can be used in existing cookstoves. In addition, Bamboo is a fast growing and sustainable plant with the first harvest at just 3 years, rapidly self regenerates ensuring energy security for the most vulnerable rural communities. To achieve scale, we train rural women groups to plant bamboo, and provide them with seedlings and access to market so that they can produce bamboo briquettes which provides additional income while saving the environment. Our market for bamboo charcoal briquettes is middle income urban households and a kilo of briquettes sells for $0.32.

- Reduced deforestation due to production of bamboo charcoal briquettes. - Improved health for women exposed to pollutants when using firewood and charcoal for cooking. - Economic empowerment for rural women groups through additional income from bamboo briquettes production.