The African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has allocated a $4 million reimbursable grant to the Burn Electric Cooking Expansion Program (BEEP) to reduce Africa’s reliance on charcoal.
The initiative, anchored in Kenya and extending to Uganda and Zambia, will deploy 115,000 smart induction cookers to low-income households, redefining the economics of clean energy adoption on the continent.
At the heart of this effort is Burn Manufacturing Company, a Nairobi-based clean cookstove producer and carbon developer that has built a pan-African footprint across more than 10 countries. Founded by American-born entrepreneur Peter Scott, Burn epitomises the new generation of Africa-based climate entrepreneurs: technologically bold, financially inventive, and determined to translate global capital into local impact.
“This is catalytic,” Scott said, welcoming the AfDB’s backing. “By integrating cutting-edge technology, carbon financing, and mobile-enabled pay-as-you-cook models, we are proving that electric cooking can be clean, affordable, and scalable across the continent.”
The $10 million financing structure reflects the new sophistication of African climate ventures. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), capitalised by a $5 million senior loan from Spark+ Africa Fund, $4 million in concessional SEFA support, and $1 million in Burn equity, will oversee cooker distribution, servicing, and carbon credit monetisation.
Revenues from the carbon markets, traditionally dominated by forestry projects will be shared among investors, effectively underwriting affordability for households that would otherwise remain locked into charcoal use.
Carbon-Backed Affordability
This approach is a first for the Bank. “This marks the Bank’s first carbon finance transaction of its kind, with SEFA playing a critical role in mitigating carbon market risks and enhancing financial sustainability,” said Dr. Daniel Schroth, Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at AfDB.
For African entrepreneurs, the significance extends beyond stoves. Carbon-backed subsidies and digitally monitored payment models are proving that climate-smart hardware businesses can scale commercially while serving the bottom of the pyramid.
The economics are as compelling as the environmental logic: Kenya alone loses 10 million trees annually to charcoal demand, while households spend up to a third of disposable income on cooking fuels.
Entrepreneurship Meets Infrastructure
By aligning with SEFA’s mission on energy efficiency and AfDB’s “New Deal on Energy for Africa,” the program illustrates how African entrepreneurs can leverage development finance to crack markets long considered too risky or low-margin. BEEP will not only reduce carbon emissions and indoor air pollution but also create local jobs in sales, maintenance, and manufacturing supply chains.
Burn’s business model blending carbon markets, IoT-enabled monitoring, and flexible financing points to a new entrepreneurial archetype emerging across the continent: firms that can compete for global capital while designing for local realities.
For investors, this program is a proof point. Africa’s clean-tech market is no longer a philanthropic experiment. It is becoming a structured asset class where returns can be generated through carbon finance, impact-linked subsidies, and scalable distribution platforms.
If successful, the initiative could become a template for broader electrification plays offering both financial yield and societal transformation.
The message is clear: African entrepreneurs are not merely recipients of climate finance; they are structuring the vehicles, deploying the technology and reshaping the business case for low-carbon growth.
