The challenge: How to make high-quality cookstoves more affordable and accessible to those who need them most.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for achieving this goal, many organizations have developed their own innovative approaches to consumer finance that help get improved cookstoves into the hands of low-income and difficult-to-reach populations.
Join the Winrock and U.S. EPA “Innovative Approaches to Cookstove Consumer Finance” webinar onWednesday, June 26, 2013 at 11:00am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) to hear a few of these approaches that can be adapted to other local contexts to increase access to financing for cookstove consumers in your target region. 
Andrée Sosler from Potential Energy, Suraj Ologburo from Toyola Energy Limited and Sylvain Romieu from UpEnergy will share their experience with developing consumer financing strategies in Sudan, Ghana and Uganda. Their strategies include:
- Setting up revolving loan facilities to offer consumers installment payment plan options;
- Providing consumers with trial periods, as well as a way to track and use their money saved from decreased fuel purchase to pay for the stove at the end of the trial;
- Working with existing local rural financial institutions to provide stoves and payment facilities to rural consumers who cannot make upfront stove payments; and
- Reducing the overall stove costs through local stove assembly and use of existing rural networks.
Webinar participation is free. For the web portion, a high-speed internet connection is required. A dedicated phone line is required to listen to audio (the web portion does not include audio capacity). Additional log-in and call-in information will be provided upon registration.
Register today for the June 26 Webinar
Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Time: 15:00 – 16:30 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)/Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EDT).
About the speakers:
Andrée Sosler is the Executive Director of Potential Energy. Ms. Sosler previously worked with the consulting firm OTF Group, leading OTF’s projects in Republic of Congo and Angola, and she has also managed projects in Sudan, Benin, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Uganda. She earned an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an AB in Development Studies from Brown University.
Suraj Wahab Ologburo is the founder and CEO of Toyola Energy Limited which is a social entrepreneurial business that produces and sells energy efficient cookstoves and solar energy products in the West African sub-region. With production and training centers in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, the business has sold over 300,000 cookstoves since 2007.
Sylvain Romieu is the Global Innovation Manager at UpEnergy, leading their marketing, sales, and technology innovation efforts with a focus on creating new markets and value networks. Before joining UpEnergy, Sylvain piloted the Growing Sustainable Business Initiative for UNDP in Senegal, developed sales and marketing for Grameen Danone social business project in Bangladesh, and developed and managed the Milky Start social business project for Danone in Poland. Sylvain holds post-graduate degrees in International Business from Universite Paris Est and in Sustainable Development Management from HEC Paris Business School.
For more information on this webinar, please contact:moderator@cookstovesandindoorair.org.
