Pesitho: empowering clean cooking solutions for a better tomorrow
The idea that sparked the founders of the company, was to invent a product as an alternative for cooking with biomass in countries without access to clean cooking facilities. Today more than 2.4 billion people are without access to clean cooking (IEA). No attempted has been made to make a commercial product, based on renewable energy, to enable cooking with electricity, and avoid the unsustainable way of cooking with biomass. With experience within renewable energy and product development, the founders developed the ECOCA and founded PESITHO.
In large, PESITHO is a company for profit, but with an integrated environmental and social profile into its DNA. In PESITHO we believe that we can impact the world for the better. Create jobs in the country we operate, for youth, for women, while creating improved livelihoods through our product and jobs created, while significantly reducing CO2 emissions. We can do this and at the same time be a profitable business, with a large degree of scalability.
Vision
A world with affordable and sustainable clean cooking for everyone.
Mission Statement
Pesitho will develop clean cooking solutions for those without access to energy. At the same time build local capacity, with a focus of building capacity amongst youth, enabling the transitioning to sustainable clean cooking for a cleaner environment, while lifting the social capacity.
The product – ECOCA
The ECOCA is the world's first off-grid Solar Electric Cook Stove, specifically designed for Sub-Saharan Africa. The technology consists of a cooking base with a built-in battery pack, an LED display for user interface (showing date, time, cooking temperature, time and selected cooking option), two USB ports for charging and lighting, a solar panel, two highly insulated cooking pots (six litres each), and three-in-one wired LED lights. Via a package of a 300-800 Watt monocrystalline solar panel, 634-1268W lithium battery, a chargeable lamp, a torch, and an additional out-of-the-package 3in1 bulbs and 1in1 bulb depending on the number of rooms in a household, after dark, the ECOCA can cover the electricity needs of a typical rural off-grid household, including lighting and the charging of phones and other small appliances. ECOCA is the first of its kind contributing to solving the challenge of clean, sustainable, and reliable cooking whilst also preventing environmental degradation caused by deforestation. It uses 100% renewable energy, and it is designed to allow cooking for three meals per day for a family of seven. Considering a 90% reduction, the ECOCA will reduce 4 tCO2eq annually, and at the same time provide a basic solar home system that comes with bulbs for light and can be used for phone charging.
Since 2021, PESITHO has expanded its product line with institutional size cooking and power system. The PESITHO Hybrid Solar System for institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and other large scale institutions, solves the problem of cooking with biomass in larger kitchens, with staff, typically women, being exposed to hazardous smoke.
Today PESITHO has deployed more than 2500 ECOCA units, and 5 institutional kitchens. PESITHO is present in several countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Malawi and Nigeria.
Organisation, supply chain and market
Pesitho is born global, with an international reach and mindset expressed through a diverse multicultural staff. Since the beginning there has been a clear strategy to build local presence and capacity in the countries we work in, and have our market in. That is throughout the organization, and with the partners of Pesitho, both downstream and upstream of the value chain. In 2019 a local company in Uganda was registered as a subsidiary of Pesitho, with the responsibility of accessing the East African market. The company, ECOCA East Africa, is registered in Uganda and has its office in Kampala. Naturally, the company is led by a female Managing Director, and as of today have 4 employees on payroll. The company in Uganda gives a better access to the market, where we partner with different organizations and companies to sell solutions for renewable energy and cooking to households and institutions. Pesitho is also involved in creating solutions for refugees and host communities in displaced settings, where training of youth is a top priority to anchor knowledge locally about the use of renewable energy for cooking, as well as maintenance of products. The ambition is to create sustainable jobs for youth, both men and women, and transition from working with charcoal production to working with renewable energy for cooking.
Today Pesitho is producing all its components in China, with professional vendors. The company has unique sourcing capabilities with native employed supply chain management. The company has a long track record for new product development with a design for manufacturing mindset, making the products cost effective, and suitable for the target markets. A longer term goal is to establish local manufacturing of components in both East and West Africa, integrating the products even more and creating local content, while reducing the speed to market.
