[Stoves] New York Times: Toxic Smoke Is Africa’s Quiet Killer. An Entrepreneur Says His Fix Can Make a Fortune

Sat Dec 15 17:44:11 CST 2018

Crispin, Carlo:

See https://www.ci-dev.org/Inyenyeri and
https://nonprofitchronicles.com/2017/10/17/inyenyeri-a-bold-plan-for-clean-cookstoves/
.

The latter piece is by Marc Gunther, who is not entirely credible given his
tone and assertions.

Still,

“We’re still scrambling,” Reynolds tells me. “There’s still a lot of
uncertainty involved.”

But the potential is enormous. Maybe I should have started this post by
reminding readers that about 3 billion — yes, 3 billion! — people cook and
heat their homes using open fires or crude biomass stoves. The WHO
estimates that more than 4 million people die prematurely from illnesses
attributed to household air pollution caused by cooking."

Louis Boorstin is an ex-IFC man not given to losing money, though I think
the Osprey Foundation lost money on the GACC adventure to lend to stove
companies. It shut down after two loans, losing Dutch money and wasting
Deutsche Bank staff time. We had a discussion about a GACC webinar on this
subject on this list a few months ago.

Everything touched by GACC smells of something or the other. Here the
carbon credit buyer is the World Bank Ci-Dev, so I assume proper due
diligence was done and toxic smoke left for NYTimes to inhale and blow on
its readers.

Nikhil

PS: For Mr. Reynolds' first adventure, eventually successful, see
https://www.inc.com/magazine/19950801/2367.html

On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 11:58 AM Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

> “How are they making any money?”
>
>
>
> Carbon trading?
>
> Crispin
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> this is the first time I intervene on this mailing list. I have been
> following for years with very much interest the technical discussions on
> stoves, where I am not an expert, but I have a pretty good experience and
> knowledge about fuel production and distribution, through my
> char-briquettes company in Cambodia - SGFE. We are so successful in
> Cambodia that now we have decided to "franchise" our model in other
> countries and we are doing that through a new company called OTAGO
> www.otago-global.com
> <https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.otago-global.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C34377fb169244371c15708d662a2e307%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636804849060834173&sdata=J2XGQDdQHQXu0ROTN94Jzd0FwrJfnxlZRqwuo%2F1F7fQ%3D&reserved=0>
>
>
>
> Regarding Inyenyeri's business model, I have to say that I have more than
> a doubt:
>
>
>
> 1. If inyenyeri has 5,000 customers, that means that they are producing at
> least 5 tons of pellets per day (1 kg/stove/day). Judging from the pictures
> of the production facility, I would hardly say it produces even just 1
> ton/day. Where is the raw material? Where are the safety stocks? Where is
> the equipment? Are they moving 5 tons of material around the factory every
> day with a wheelbarrow as it can be seen in one of the pictures? My factory
> has an average output of 3-4 tons/day and it has a main building of 1,200
> sqm, 30 production workers and a raw material stock of 200 tons and a
> finished product stock of 70-80 tons (not considering the buffers of
> material which is being processed).
>
> Why are the production workers in Inyeyeri wearing helmets? The building
> is not really high, there don't seem to be any overhead stored material or
> overhead movement of material (like with cranes). In my experience with
> processing biomass fuel, you keep everything on the floor, since there is
> lots of material and it is really heavy. Unless there is the risk that the
> roof falls on their head, the helmets seem completely useless and worn just
> as a statement of (useless) safety measures being implemented.
>
>
>
> 2. According to Inyenyeri's business model, they receive the biomass from
> the people that collect it and bring it to the factory. To produce 5
> tons/day you need at least 5 tons of wood per day (more if you consider the
> moisture content). If everybody brought 50kg (I imagine these people are
> low income, might not have a car or even a motorbike and therefore bring
> everything on foot, as shown in a picture) that would mean 100 people line
> up every day in front of the factory. How much time does it take to weigh
> the wood one by one and pay them? Do they weigh 5 tons of wood every day
> with that small hanging scale that can be seen in one of the pictures? At
> SGFE we have trucks delivering the raw material at the factory and just the
> unloading of the trucks is already a really hard job.
>
>
>
> 3. How does Inyenyeri distribute the pellets? With bicycles, as it can be
> seen in the picture and in the video? They distribute 5 tons of pellets in
> a HILLY COUNTRY with bicycles? How many bicycles do they have/need? The
> riders have probably a training ready  to participate to the Tour the
> France.... In Cambodia we use 2-3 Tuk Tuks driving around the city 10 hours
> a day (from 8am to 6 pm), fully loaded to deliver 3-4 tons/day. And Phnom
> Penh is completely flat!
>
>
>
> 4. According to Inyenyeri's business model they distribute Mimimotos
> stoves for free and they earn the money by selling the fuel. If Inyenyeri
> makes 30% profit margin on the fuel (which is massive, because fuel
> businesses are usually "low margins high volumes" business models), selling
> the pellets at 0.24 USD/kg, it would take 2 years and 3 months only to pay
> back the 60 USD stove. How are they making any money? What if some of the
> customers decide they don't want to buy the pellets anymore, which would
> add effective losses?
>
>
>
> 5. Inyenyeri's business model is already pretty hard to believe with the
> alleged 5,000 customers, how do they intend to scale up to serve 100,000
> households? Do they have any idea of what it means to produce 100 tons of
> pellets per day? (Size of the building and land, necessary raw material
> storage, equipment, trucks, etc...). How many hundreds/thousands of people
> will line up in front of the factory every day to supply the wood/raw
> material? Is it even manageable and is it actually feasible to secure the
> required feedstock with such a business model? Are they going to deliver
> 100 tons per month on bicycles?
>
>
>
> 6. Inyenyeri has risen 12 million USD in funding (private investments and
> grants). On what basis was that amount of money granted to Inyenyeri? For
> their business model or their technology or their market penetration? Is
> the business plan or any other data publicly available? What have they
> demonstrated in the past? And what have they done with that money so far?
>
>
>
> I am an engineer and have been working in the fuel business for 8 years. I
> find it really hard to believe Inyenyeri's story and am wondering if
> anybody else has the same doubts or if anyone can eventually give me some
> answers.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Carlo
>
> *_________________________*
>
> *Carlo Figà Talamanca - CEO*
> *Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise (SGFE)*
> Phlove Lom, Phoum Russey, Sangkat Stueng Meanchey, Khan Meanchey,
> Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA
> T: +855-(0)97-8159256
>
> E: carlo at sgfe-cambodia.com <carloft at gmail.com>
>
> W: www.sgfe-cambodia.com
> <https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sgfe-cambodia.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C34377fb169244371c15708d662a2e307%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636804849060834173&sdata=9%2F1j%2FFs9IYfr8NSlNZWULadKWOP8iCZbRRB4mDrDgoY%3D&reserved=0>
>
>
>
>
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