At Burn, we challenge the belief that women cannot work in a male-dominated manufacturing industry-Peter Scott
WINNER ENERGY COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD
Peter Scott exhibits the cook stove
In every practical sense, it is impossible to distinguish Burn Manufacturing, the winner of the Company of the Year 2016, from the story of its founder and chief executive, Peter Scott. The cook stoves that gave the company an early name in the market is the brainchild of Mr Scott, a German whose interaction with Africa started way back in 1990 as a young boy. He had seen the problem of deforestation in the continent and committed himself to finding a solution. That is how his interest in designing cook stoves began back in 1997.
Raise capital From 2001 to 2008, Peter was working as a biomass energy consultant for the German government and doing cook stove projects. After 2008, he decided to raise capital, put a dedicated team together and build a modern manufacturing facility in Kenya, sourcing 40 per cent of the raw material locally to make the world’ s best cook stoves. His vision was to transform sub Saharan Africa by reducing deforestation, air pollution and the cost of fuel. The cost of buying charcoal or using wood as fuel was very high at that time in the Kenyan market so he saw the need to reduce cost reduction and the air pollution caused by emissions from charcoal. In addition, the rate of health hazards imposed by traditional cook stoves was very high. The smoke from inefficient cooking was killing more people than malaria and HIV combined.
At Burn, we challenge the belief that women cannot work in a male-dominated manufacturing industry-Peter Scott
Health hazards Firewood and charcoal production, he notes, are currently responsible for 52 per cent of all deforestation in Sub- Saharan Africa. Reports indicate that poor households spend as much as 30 per cent of their income on fuel.“ Such high expenditure presents a barrier against escaping poverty,” he notes.“ Additionally,” he adds,“ many women and children are disproportionately affected by the health hazards imposed by traditional cook stoves.”
Jikokoa brand Peter began assembling stoves in 2013 then went into full manufacturing, giving rise to the Jikokoa brand. Currently, the Jikokoa stove has impacted more than 1 million people reducing their fuel cost by 37million dollars( Ksh 3.7 billion) and sick days by 54 per cent, in addition to saving 730,000 tonnes of wood. In order to meet the demand, Scott launched a modern stove manufacturing facility in 2014. The solar-powered factory is staffed with 50 per cent women, makes one stove per minute and has the capacity to produce 36,000 stoves per month.
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