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KOKO builds technology for life in the world's fastest growing cities, many of which face a major problem with dirty cooking fuels. The first consumer solution, KOKO Fuel, delivers a low-cost clean bioethanol cooking fuel via a Network of “KOKOpoint” clean fuel ATMs hosted inside local corner stores. In cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, charcoal, fuelwood, and kerosene dominate the market for cooking fuel, with a devastating impact on the environment and public health. Charcoal causes massive deforestation, food insecurity and indoor air pollution that kills millions annually. KOKO’s tech enables KOKO Fuel to provide significant cost savings vs dirty fuels, as well as other quality of life improvements. KOKO’s first Network of 700 KOKOpoints was launched in Nairobi in June 2019, in partnership with Vivo Energy Kenya (the Shell licensee in Africa).


The Africa Report

Electrification is often seen as the key threshold in tackling poverty in Africa, but a start-up in Nairobi is challenging that assumption by distributing ethanol as fuel for cooking.

Dirty fuels dominate the cooking market in Africa’s 40 largest cities, says Greg Murray, CEO of Koko Networks, which operates in Kenya. Only the affluent can afford to use gas for cooking, with kerosene and charcoal used by those at the bottom of the urban pyramid. Such fuels are major contributors to respiratory diseases, carbon emissions and deforestation.

Africa’s middle class is not growing as fast as its urban populations. The mere concentration of poor people… Read More

Saun Saxena, Chief Innovation Officer of KOKO Networks

“More than $400 million per year is spent on domestic cooking in Nairobi alone, much of that on slow, dirty and unsafe fuels, and more than 21,000 Kenyans die each year from diseases attributable to indoor air pollution. That's more than 400 people every week, in Kenya alone. KOKO's solution is based on a liquid fuel which is cleaner to burn, safer to store, and cheaper to handle than solid or gaseous fuels. By partnering with a Network of local shopkeepers, we can finally provide affordable cheap fuel to consumers - safely, close to home and in the small quantities that many people prefer, while removing the need for expensive single-use plastic bottles.”


The Consumer's Experience