Malawi - Startup under 3 years old

Décrivez votre projet en quelques mots

Marcco Energy is a project focusing on provision of clean cooking solution. We have designed a stove called Shima stove which is a biomass gasfier stove that runs on biomass pellets, Shima stove offers cheaper, cleaner and eco-friendly cooking solution.

01.01 Décrivez votre startup en détail

Marcco Energy is dedicated to revolutionizing the cooking energy sector by offering a better alternative to charcoal and firewood. Our Shima stove uses a 12v fan that use less electricity equivalent to laptop charging, 12v battery or a small solar. The fan forces air enabling gasfication and due to availability of oxygen ensuring complete combustion of pellets makes it smoke-free. This smokeless means our Shima stove is convenient as it can be used both indoor and outdoor. The gasfication also makes the pellets to burn steadily for long time with 500g lasting 1 hour making this the cheapest cooking solution available in Malawi since a family of 6 only need 2.5 kg of pellets a day which we outsource, rebrand and sell at 200 per kg. Shima cost us MK20,000 to make and we sell at MK35,000. We designed Shima stove to be an answer to many Malawians as they were hindered to switch from Charcoal to pellets due to high cost of those Pellet stoves from outside that price-out 95% of Malawians.

01.02 Quel est le problème principal que vous essayez de résoudre ?

As someone with personal experience having used charcoal and firewood for cooking untill recently when I decided to find a better solution and designed Shima stove that use pellets, I understand that access to clean energy that is both sustainable and affordable is a major problem to most Malawians. Despite charcoal and firewood being detrimental to the environment as it is the main cause for massive deforest and carbon emmision, they are also increasingly becoming unaffordable for an average Malawian due to low levels of supply as the forests are running out and government is becoming more strict affecting the price in the process as the demand for cooking fuel is evergrowing. Shima stove that uses pellets made from sawdust a byproduct of timber processing ensures that trees are preserved by recycling and reusing sawdust which could have been a waste making Pellets a renewable and clean energy fuel. Making Shima pellet stove affordable and accessible increases access to clean energy.

01.03 Dites-nous quels sont les principaux avantages et/ou bénéfices de l'utilisation du produit/service fourni par votre startup (au moins 3).

Shima stove is an eco-friendly product that ensures low carbon emmisions as it does not produce smoke when using, it also help in the fight against deforest by providing a stove that use pellets which is a cooking solution that does not require trees to be cut unlike charcoal and firewood. The other benefit is on health as millions of people die every year due to exposure to smoke when cooking with charcoal and firewood, hence Shima stove that is smoke-free preserves the health and lives of women and children as they are the ones spending most of the time in those chickens with a lot of smoke. Shima stove also offers the most affordable cooking solution as in Malawi cooking with pellets is the cheapest option as compared to charcoal, firewood,gas, electricity and briquettes. For instance a family of 6 require charcoal of over MK1,000 a day while only need 2.5 kg of pellets which cost MK500 a day. As most malawians are struggling financially switching to pellets is the best choice.

01.04 Veuillez décrire précisément à qui s'adresse le produit/service de votre startup. Quels sont les bénéficiaires visés ?

Our target markets are those that use charcoal and firewood, since in Malawi 90% use charcoal and firewood this means our target markets are wide and far reaching. We have three designs for Shima stove the small one for households, the medium for restaurants and small businesses and the large one for boarding schools which most of them use a lot of trees for firewood. We basically use below the line marketing to reach our customers with minimal budget mainly Facebook sponsored ads, trade shows in local trading centers and local restaurant to demonstrate how Shima stove works and give the a better understanding and so far the demand for our stove is growing bigger than we can supply due to lack of resources to start mass production and reach our intended impact in society. To properly manage inventory and ensure consistent availability of pellets to our customers we intend to start manufacturing pellets ourselves when we procure pellet machine which cost MK 7,000,000 here in Malawi.

01.05 Quand votre entreprise a-t-elle été créée ?

29/10/2021

01.06 Vendez-vous déjà votre produit/service ?

Oui

01.07 Combien y a-t-il de propriétaires de votre entreprise en plus de vous ?

0

01.08 Parmi les autres propriétaires, combien sont des femmes ?

0

01.09 Veuillez décrire le profil des autres propriétaires de votre startup (compétences, expérience, etc.).

Not applicable

01.10 Si vous avez un site web, une page sur les médias sociaux (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin...) ou une application, veuillez fournir le(s) lien(s) ici :

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560587409492&mibextid=ZbWKwL

01.11 Quel est le secteur d'activité qui décrit le mieux votre entreprise ?

Énergie (équipements, services, énergie durable et fossiles)

02.01.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Pas de pauvreté'

6

02.01.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Poverty is mainly symblized and indicated by poor quality of life and lack of access to clean cooking energy is also a symbol of poverty. By ensuring increased access to clean cooking with our Shima stove that use pellets we will be contributing towards aradication of poverty. Shima stove also offers the most affordable alternative hence helping Malawians to save on their cooking cost and use the other money for something different helping to have the income they earn sustain them and move away from poverty line.

02.02.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Faim Zéro'

7 - tout à fait d'accord

02.02.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Looking at how expensive charcoal has become there is a high possibility that other extremely poor families might fail to cook and eat due to lack of cooking fuel. Our project that centers around affordability of cooking fuel these families now have the cheapest cooking fuel alternative available. Their access to cheap pellets will ensure they do not suffer of hunger due to lack of cooking fuel.

02.03.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Bonne Santé et Bien Être'

7 - tout à fait d'accord

02.03.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Since charcoal and firewood emmit a lot of smoke when cooking putting the health and life of a cook at risk, our project offer a better solution. Using pellets on Shima stove ensures safety of the people cooking as it does not produce smoke due to its gasfication nature. This helps to improve the health and overall well being of women and children mainly because they are the ones who use the kitchen more often.

02.04.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Éducation de Qualité'

5

02.04.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

By providing cost saving cooking solution parents would save enough money to use for school fees to send their children to good schools. Quality education also needs one to be in good health to access and by using Shima stove and avoiding exposure to smoke good health can be achieved enabling one to access quality education happily.

02.05.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Égalité entre les Sexes'

2

02.05.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Not applicable

02.06.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Eau Propre et Assainissement'

2

02.06.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Not applicable

02.07.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Énergie Propre et Abordable'

7 - tout à fait d'accord

02.07.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Our project is mainly about providing clean cooking energy solutions. Knowing how most of the Malawians are facing economic challenges and cannot catch up with the ever increasing charcoal prices we have come up with a solution that is affordable for all malawians. As pellets has proven to be the cheapest cooking fuel option in Malawi. It's not only cheap but clean and convenient as well as it does not produce smoke and can be used both indoors and outdoors.

02.08.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Travail Décent et Croissance Économique'

7 - tout à fait d'accord

02.08.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

We are currently creating 12 jobs with 5 permanent employees since we are a startup though registered in 2021 we have been in full operation and brought our product to Market for few months. With our intention to grow big and start mass production of Shima stove and Shima Pellets to reach more people, creating employment for more people will be part of that growth. This will help our country economic growth and individual economic growth of our employees as they will be able earn a living and sustain their families

02.09.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Industrie, Innovation et Infrastructure'

6

02.09.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Our project is innovate in nature and with the right resources we intend to build an industrial plant for mass production of Shima stoves and Shima Pellets and this might inspire other youths to also come up with innovate projects in the future.

02.10.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Réduction des Inégalités'

6

02.10.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

There is a disparity in access to clean energy between developed countries and developing countries like Malawi where developing countries like Malawi low levels of access to clean energy resulting in inequality in the quality of life. Even in the same country access to clean cooking energy is high among rich people who can afford to cook with electricity and gas while poor people cannot afford and has to resort to charcoal and firewood, but with Shima stove that gap has been reduced since even poor people can now access clean cooking energy

02.11.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Villes et Communautés Durables'

5

02.11.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

The Pellets that are used in Shima stove are made from a byproduct of timber processing sawdust and other wastes, if they were not recycled and reused to make pellets they would have been left to decompose and release greenhouse gas into the sky affecting ozonlayer in the process. By recycling and reusing sawdust to make pellets it helps in cleaning the cities as these sawdust would have been dumped somewhere, to decompose and release bad smell and makes the city untidy.

02.12.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Consommation et Production Responsables'

5

02.12.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

All our products are produced with locally available resources ensuring that we do not affect the country forex by importing from outside and we also help other local businesses grow by buying them some of the materials we need.

02.13.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Lutte contre les Changements Climatiques'

7 - tout à fait d'accord

02.13.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Since deforestation is a major cause for climate change our project which aims at preserving the environment by offering a product to substitute charcoal and firewood which are the main causes of deforestation, we are very proud to be part of the solution to combat climate change.

02.14.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Vie Sous-Marine'

1 - pas du tout d'accord

02.14.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Not applicable

02.15.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Vie Terrestre'

6

02.15.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Our project aims at providing a solution to substitute the use of charcoal and firewood for cooking which are the major causes of deforestation.

02.16.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Paix, Justice et Institutions Efficaces'

4

02.16.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Not applicable

02.17.01 Ma startup contribue à l'objectif 'Parteneriats pour la Réalisation des Objectifs'

3

02.17.02 Justification de la contribution de ma startup

Not applicable

06.01 Un grand nombre de clients utilisent déjà un produit/service très similaire au nôtre.

2

06.02 Notre produit/service représente un type de produit/service entièrement nouveau

2

06.03 Notre produit/service pourrait être décrit comme une nouvelle technologie

6

06.04 Notre produit/service est une amélioration d'un produit ou d'un service existant

2

06.05 Notre produit/service pourrait être décrit comme une extension d'une gamme de produits ou de services

2

06.06 Notre produit/service répond à une demande ou à un besoin qui n'a pas été satisfait par d'autres produits/services.

7 - Tout à fait d'accord

06.07 Notre produit/service est une nouvelle version d'un ancien produit/service

2

06.08 Justification

The Shima stove is responded by people who have been frustrated with the prices of charcoal, others who are concerned about the environment so this stove uses biomass gasfication technology to extract the mixture of gases in the pellets which could have been smoke but because of high oxygen it causes complete combustion turning the mixture of gases into flames hence there is no smoke. Shima uses the burning chamber that has holes for air ventilation at the top this makes the Pellets to burn for long time and steadily, the stove is also designed in a way that the burning starts from the top to down with few holes at the bottom of the burning chamber and more hole at the top of the chamber ensuring that the pellets at the bottom do not burn simultaneously with those at the top so that if cooking is done while pellets haven't finished burning they can simply remove the burned ones at the top and since those at the bottom are not burned can be removed and used later, ensuring efficiency.

06.09 Analyse compétitive

The main competition is the pellet stoves from outside the country there is a stove called Mini moto designed in Netherland and Fab designed in South Africa. Even though Shima does the function as those Pellet stoves our advantage from local perspective is the price since our aim is to make the adoption of the use of pellets possible and since people cannot use pellets without these pellets stoves that hold the key towards the transition of luring people to switch from Charcoal to pellets. Shima is made to be affordable to average people as it only cost MK35,000 while Min Moto and Fab cost MK250,000 and MK170,000 respectively. With these prices most Malawians cannot afford to buy hence making price a hindrance towards adoption of clean cooking with pellets solution, hence most people will opt to buy Shima due to its affordability as compared to those other stoves since Shima does the same function.

11.05 Menez-vous des actions au sein de votre communauté pour promouvoir le rôle des femmes entrepreneurs ?