Cooking stove manufacturer and distributor Burn, has received Sh1.93 billion ($15 million) in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), to expand the distribution of its environment-friendly electric products to households across Kenya and the East African region.
The Kenya-based US company said that the financing will boost the distribution of its electric stoves through the pay-as-you-cook (PAYC) model.
“Burn has already brought our unique PAYC electric cooking solution to thousands of households in Kenya and Tanzania, who previously relied on traditional charcoal stoves. This investment from the EIB will help us transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, enabling them to cook on grids that are 80 to 95 percent powered by renewable energy,” Peter Scott, founder and chief executive of Burn said.
The US firm launched its first full manufacturing facility in Kenya in 2014. A brief on the company website said the solar-powered facility currently has a capacity of 250,000 stoves per month. Burn said it has to date distributed over five million clean cookstoves across Africa, changing the lives of 25 million people.
“The investment that we have agreed today is not just about improving lives, but saving them as well. With relatively simple technology for clean cooking, we will strengthen communities, especially by protecting the health of women, and their families” EIB Group President, Nadia Calviño said.
Burn in October 2023 revealed it had issued a $10 million (Sh1.28 billion) green bond, whose proceeds will support clean energy projects in Kenya and Nigeria.
The company said proceeds from the bond would allow it to increase its existing manufacturing capacity in Kenya, as well as launch a new manufacturing facility in Lagos, Nigeria.
“Production will increase from the current 400,000 units per month to 600,000 units and will produce a range of life-saving biomass, electric, and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) stoves,” it said in a statement.
The funds from the green bond are poised to extend these benefits to an extra two million households in the year 2024.
The bond issuance was supported by DRY Associated Limited acting as the placement agent with FSD Africa, a specialist development agency funded by UK International Development, providing technical input on the bond framework and contributing technical assistance for the second-party opinion which was conducted by Agusto & Co., the leading Pan-African Credit Rating Agency and Green Bond Verifier.
