SMEFUNDS' Green Energy & Biofuels Named Top Sustainable Business

First African Waste-to-Ethanol Company recognized by Mentor Capital Network

Washington DC—27 July 2014—Small Medium Enterprise Fundamentals’ (SMEFUNDS) Green Energy & Biofuels won the 2014 WJF Chuck Dell Award for Sustainable Business. Mentor Capital Network, formally known as the William James Foundation, selected the enterprise based on social impact and potential for growth. The award was a competitive process that considered the business models and results from 558 social enterprises from around the world. Judges involved in the selection included Laura Lovelace Managing Partner of Lovelace Energy Advisors, Dawn Edwards, Senior Managing Director at Mission Markets, Kalsoom Lakhani, Founder & CEO at Invest2Innovate and Ms. Deb Parsons

“This award is a huge boost to thousands of people across Africa and partners around the world,” said Kunle Odebunmi, COO of Green Energy & Biofuels. “We started out as a very small group of people with a big dream. But it took thousands of people joining us to get to the point we are today. We accept this award in appreciation of them. ”

Chuck Dell and Kunle Odebunmi (COO -Green Energy & Biofuels Limited)

For over 2 years, SMEFUND’s Green Energy & Biofuels has converted wood waste from local sawmills into high quality ethanol. The company has a unique approach: While cellulosic ethanol is yet to approach commercial viability in the rest of the world, the company saw an opportunity for this renewable fuel due to the high price of kerosene in Nigeria. Turning the renewable ethanol into a cooking fuel allows them to be commercially successful even on a small scale. To date, the company has sold over 200,000 of their patented stoves and 2 million liters of ethanol cooking gel.

“Chuck Dell founded WJF to act on his passion that business could be a force for good in the world. Mentor Capital Network stays true to that mission to prepare the new generation to take on the challenges of building a more sustainable world. This is truly embodied in the spirit, strategy and results of SMEFUNDS’ Green Energy & Biofuels. We are thrilled to honor both SMEFUNDS and Chuck Dell today,” stated Ian Fisk, executive director of the Mentor Capital Network.

SMEFUNDS’ Green Energy & Biofuels is now working with top investors and financiers to accelerate their waste-to-ethanol cooking fuel expansion. They are currently raising their Series A equity round and would be delighted to speak with those interested in helping build Africa’s first multi-billion dollar renewable fuel company

For over 2 years, SMEFUND’s Green Energy & Biofuels has converted wood waste from local sawmills into high quality ethanol. The company has a unique approach: While cellulosic ethanol is yet to approach commercial viability in the rest of the world, the company saw an opportunity for this renewable fuel due to the high price of kerosene in Nigeria. Turning the renewable ethanol into a cooking fuel allows them to be commercially successful even on a small scale. To date, the company has sold over 200,000 of their patented stoves and 1.6 million liters of ethanol cooking gel.

“Chuck Dell founded WJF to act on his passion that business could be a force for good in the world. Mentor Capital Network stays true to that mission to prepare the new generation to take on the challenges of building a more sustainable world. This is truly embodied in the spirit, strategy and results of SMEFUNDS’ Green Energy & Biofuels. We are thrilled to honor both SMEFUNDS and Chuck Dell today,” stated Ian Fisk, executive director of the Mentor Capital Network.

About SMEFUNDS’ Green Energy & Biofuels

SMEFUNDS’ Green Energy & Biofuels is a social enterprise based in Lagos, Nigeria promoting safer and cleaner biofuel gel with their patented cookstoves as an alternative to dangerous and harmful fuel. They are the first partners of  UN Sustainable Energy for All High-Impact Initiative for Sustainable Bioenergy in Africa. Recently, they were named the best clean energy investment opportunity in West Africa and overall winner at the West Africa Forum for Clean Energy Financing Business Plan competition in Accra and gained support from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves’ Spark Fund.

About Mentor Capital Network

Mentor Capital Network is a nonprofit organization that is strengthening the global social enterprise community, championing triple bottom line values, and leveraging the success of mentors to forge new successes. It is a network of people who build, manage, invest in, research and support for-profit multi-bottom line businesses and invest our skills and expertise to accelerate the next generation of inventors and innovators passionate about their world-changing ideas create, launch and scale successful businesses that make money and make the world better place. Since 2002, it has invested over $3 million of mentor capital to more than 830 for-profit social enterprises creating thousands of jobs and positively impacting the lives of millions of people.

First steps to improved power transmission in Nigeria

Small World Carbon's ongoing research aims to contribute to the stability of Nigeria power system

Nigeria's high-voltage electricity transmission system is a crucial piece of infrastructure operated under challenging conditions.  Small World Carbon is engaging with local experts to pilot some innovative measurement and communication solutions to support better network operations.

The high voltage transmission system is close to or beyond its stability limits most of the time- yet system operators have very little visibility, due to a measurement system that is only partially functioning and currently being refurbished. Without appropriate records and current information, the task of operators to make the best operational and planning decisions is made more difficult.  At the moment, half-hourly record are kept- but many significant events can happen in-between these readings that may deserve attention.

Last year, Small World Carbon conducted a demonstration of a mobile synchrophasor measurement unit (PMU)  with mobile-phone communication capability.  This device, designed by Studio Elektronike Rijeka (STER), allows operators to view live trends about voltage, frequency, and power measured at any point in the network. The trial demonstration captured events experienced at a typical compound (Image A), and at  Apo Substation near Abuja (Image B).  The compound recording here reveals both a disturbance (event A) and a subsequent collapse (event B) before the compound shifted to backup power.  The substation recording indicates the type of frequency range that can be compiled as statistics and used as a baseline for demonstrating system performance and improvement.  

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IMAGE A: Measurement at compound

This year, Small World Carbon plans to conduct an extended trial with an installation of the STER PMU  at Oshogbo National Control Centre.  By building a baseline of grid voltage and frequency performance, and providing live feed of power flow on critical lines, Small World Carbon and Studio Elektronike Rijeka aim to demonstrate how an ad-hoc synchrophasor network can contribute to improved restoration times following blackouts,  more effective operational interventions, and valuable information for blackout and system performance analysis.

IMAGE B: Measurement at substation

SMEFunds Green Energy & Biofuels Gains Spark Fund Investment

Clean Cooking Efforts Poised for Growth After Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves’ Announces Support

Nairobi — 4 February 2014 — The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves announced today that Small Medium Enterprise Fundamentals’ (SMEFunds) Green Energy & Biofuels was selected as being a cookstove business with one of the highest growth potentials in the world.   

The Alliance statement read: “The business has developed a ground-breaking method of producing cellulosic ethanol and converting the liquid into gel that can then be used in their cookstoves… On the occasion of the National Clean Cookstoves and Fuels Conference in Nairobi, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is pleased to announce more than US$ 3 million in grants and loans for entrepreneurs.” This was the first major international financial support for this 100% African owned and grown company. 

“It started out as a dream and turned into a mission to end kerosene generation in Africa and ensure cooking doesn’t kill,” said Femi Oye, CEO and co-founder. “The Global Alliance is an instrumental partner in this fight. We value their focus on growth and impact and appreciate their rigorous due diligence process. We are proud to accept this endorsement on behalf of our thousands of people across West Africa who has been working tirelessly to bring cleaner, safer and cheaper cooking to their countries and their kitchens.”

For the past 2 years, SMEFunds Green Energy & Biofuels has converted wood waste from local sawmills into a high quality ethanol. The company has a unique approach: Even in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East, cellulosic ethanol has not yet approached commercial viability as a transport fuel. So instead, they started by selling it a cooking fuel. With the street price of kerosene usually fluctuating between $1-2 USD per liter in their markets, the company is commercially successful even on a small scale. Bottles of this renewable ethanol gel are then sold around the price of kerosene to communities across West Africa. To date, the company has sold over 120,000 cookstoves and 500,000 L of bio-ethanol cooking gel.

SMEFunds Green Energy & Biofuels is now working with top investors and financiers to accelerate their waste-to-ethanol cooking fuel expansion. They are raising their Series A equity round and would be delighted to speak with those interested in helping build Africa’s first multi-billion dollar renewable fuel company.

About the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is an innovative public-private partnership, led by the United Nations Foundation and comprising over 600 partners to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The Alliance is working with its public, private and non-profit partners to help overcome the market barriers that currently impede the production, deployment, and use of clean cookstoves in developing countries. For more information please see:  www.cleancookstoves.org

About SMEFunds Green Energy & Biofuels

SMEFunds Green Energy & Biofuels is a social enterprise based in Lagos, Nigeria promoting safer and cleaner biofuel gel with their patented Cookstoves as an alternative to dangerous and harmful fuel. They are the first partners of UN Sustainable Energy for All High-Impact Initiative for Sustainable Bioenergy in Africa.. Recenty, they were named the best clean energy investment opportunity in West Africa and overall winner at the West Africa Forum for Clean Energy Financing Business Plan competition in Accra.They were judged by representatives from major international organizations such as Leo Blyth (IFC, Lighting Africa Initiative), Musa Salah (EcoBank), Godfrey Mwindaare (Acumen Fund West Africa), Professor Joseph Adelegan (Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development), and Sander Smits van Oyen (SOVEC). For more information on please see: http://gebiofuels.com

SMEFunds Announces Partnership with the UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative

First Bioenergy Partnership for SE4ALL sets the stage for sustainable biofuels in Africa

Abu Dhabi— 23 January 2014 — Small Medium Enterprise Fundamentals’ (SMEFunds) Green Energy & Biofuels announced today a partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4ALL) and Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA), signed this week during the 7thWorld Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

This partnership, under the SE4ALL High-Impact Initiative for Sustainable Bioenergy in Africa (African HII), is created in order to support the scale-up of SMEFunds’ existing bio-ethanol production and clean cook stove business in the Lagos, Nigeria area and to help it achieve its ambitions of achieving cellulosic ethanol production at scale while growing its market nationwide.

“We are thrilled at having such a prestigious international partner to help us scale our operations,” said Femi Oye, CEO at SMEFunds. “While we’ve had measurable success over the last two years, with the finance and R&D support that SE4ALL can leverage, we look forward to increasing our impact significantly further in the years ahead. With the scale up we will be able to create a positive impact on the health of millions of mothers and families by replacing kerosene, as well as avoiding the emissions of many tons of carbon dioxide.”

For the past 2 years, SMEFunds has converted wood waste from local sawmills into a high quality cooking gel. Bottles of this renewable ethanol gel are then sold around the price of kerosene to communities across West Africa. To date, the company has sold over 140,000 cook stoves and 700,000 L of bio-ethanol cooking gel.

About SE4ALL

SE4ALL High-Impact Initiative for Sustainable Bioenergy in Africa (African HII) is a voluntary partnership of likeminded stakeholders that seeks to facilitate the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions in Africa.

About SMEFunds

Small and Medium Enterprise Fundamentals (SMEFunds) is a social enterprise based in Lagos, Nigeria promoting safer and cleaner biofuel gel with the Kike clean cookstove as an alternative to dangerous and harmful fuel.  Distribution is achieved using Nigeria’s largest and growing product logistics system for energy entrepreneurs, the Carbon Credit Network (CCN).

About PANGEA

Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA) is a non-profit membership association that promotes sustainable African bioenergy production, investment and policies. Based in Brussels, PANGEA engages with governments, provides a network for the industry, and shares knowledge on best practices in both the EU and Africa. Its members produce, blend, trade, research and support the development of sustainable bioenergy in Africa and beyond.

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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information on SME Funds: http://smefunds.com

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