Made in Africa, for Africa: How Ener-G-Africa Locally Manufactures Affordable Energy Solutions with André Moolman

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa Podcast. We started by importing products from Asia and distributing it at a wholesale basis in Malawi, and we realized very quickly that there's a market for this. But then, you know, the question is, why can't we make it in Africa for Africa? All the countries that we operate in, I think we've got close to a thousand employees now in the five countries that we serve. We believe there's no other way of developing Southern Africa but working together.

[00:00:27] For us to be successful, we need to ensure that our suppliers are benefiting as well. And it's a partnership. Africa can solve Africa's problems and create value and manufacture and become a global player in this field. Stay tuned as we bring you inspiring people who are unlocking Africa's economic potential. You're listening to the Unlocking Africa Podcast with your host, Terser Adamu.

[00:00:55] Welcome to the Unlocking Africa Podcast, where we find amazing people who are doing amazing things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today, we have André Moolman, CEO at Energy Africa, a company that manufactures and distributes a range of clean cook stoves and fuels. By doing so, it provides innovative energy access solutions tailored to the unique needs of Africa.

[00:01:24] Welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast, André. How are you? I'm fine. Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast. As always, I like to go straight in. So I was hoping you can give us a bit of information or maybe a backstory in terms of what inspired the founding of Energy Africa. So Energy Africa was founded by myself and my partner, Richard Bunderson, in 2017 in Malawi.

[00:01:54] We both lived in Malawi and we realized that there was a massive shortage for affordable energy products to disadvantaged communities in the rural area. So we started by importing products from Asia and distributing it at a wholesale basis in Malawi. And we realized very quickly that there's market for this. But then, you know, the question is, why can't we make it in Africa?

[00:02:23] And that's when we started moving into the manufacturing, you know, being innovative and creating products that people need, basically made in Africa for Africa. And that's what inspired us to start the business. And that's pretty much still what we do today. Fantastic. So you've given us an idea of the inspiration behind the company. But what would you say are the core values or maybe the core mission of Energy Africa?

[00:02:49] It's to give affordable energy products tailor-made for the market to rural and urban communities in Africa that don't have access to it. Brilliant, brilliant. So I guess with that, you're also addressing some of the energy challenges that these communities face. So what would you say you're doing specifically to contribute to addressing, I wouldn't say specifically Africa's energy challenges, but the energy challenges in those communities that you serve? We look at all the basic energy needs, right?

[00:03:18] And we start looking at cooking, which is a big part of our business is manufacturing of cookstoves for those markets. And then we look at the basic energy needs, like lights, charging a cell phone, powering a laptop, etc. To give those markets access to affordable products. And as I said before, not tailor-made for that environment.

[00:03:46] And we know what that is because we are very embedded in the community and we hear what the community wants. We go back to the drawing board, innovate the product and then get it to them at affordable price. So we've discussed how you serve the local community. So outside of this, what would you say makes Energy Africa different from other energy manufacturers on the continent?

[00:04:10] I think what makes it different is the fact that we, with our distribution network, the way that we do business, we have got people in the rural area that we engage with on a regular basis. And you can create an amazing product, right? And you can try to get it to the market, but that market acceptance is very important. We do it the other way around. We first want to see what the market would accept. And then we go and we innovate, develop and supply.

[00:04:38] And that's what makes us different from other players in the renewable energy space. And to be honest, there's not a lot of players and there should be a lot more. I agree. So you touched on the innovation and the development of the products with the customer and community in mind. So if we look at the products, what are some of the key or main products that Energy Africa manufactures?

[00:05:06] So we manufacture advanced biomass cook stoves, which is pretty much focused on the urban and pre-urban area. We also create urban rural cook stoves, which will mostly work with firewood, which is available in the local market. We also manufacture solar panels and we manufacture from as small as a 10 watt all the way up to a 500 to 50 watt solar panel.

[00:05:33] The smallest smaller panels, obviously focusing on the energy poor areas, the rural area, and then the bigger panels for your urban and commercial markets. Brilliant, brilliant. So if you look at the innovation and development of these products, what role does sustainability play in the product development and the manufacturing process? Yeah, because we are a sustainable company.

[00:06:02] We ensure that from a supply point of view, we buy the purchasing of our steel is all local. We manufacture in South Africa. We will flat pack in country and value in the other countries where we're operating. So we'll flat pack in South Africa. We'll export, for example, to Malawi's, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, the other countries where we're operating. And by doing that, we lessen the waste, but we also value adding in country.

[00:06:30] For example, if you import stoves from Southeast Asia, you will fit a thousand, two thousand stoves in a container maybe. But if the way we do it, we get 9000 stoves on one truck to do those markets and there's no waste. Obviously, there is recycling facilities available in South Africa where the other countries don't necessarily have that. So that's how we contribute. We also are very serious about the impact that our operations have on the ground.

[00:06:58] We track our carbon footprint and we continue to try to reduce that. So by manufacturing and adding value in country, what impact have you seen this create from a job creation or economic perspective? We have created in all the countries that we operate in. I think we've got close to a thousand employees now in the five countries that we serve. We believe there's no other way of developing Southern Africa but working together.

[00:07:29] So it's very simple to or easy to make a product in South Africa and just export it. It doesn't really benefit the rest of the region. So local value adding is the core of our business. We are very serious about everybody needs to benefit from this product. And part of that is creating the local skills, training people. And sometimes those skills were just never there before. And we want to create that so that we can start creating industry and building economies.

[00:07:56] So have you seen an impact from this with regards to the wider supply chain of people that contribute towards the products that you manufacture? Yeah, we definitely, definitely have. You know, as I say that we will always first try to procure local. So local businesses will benefit from us being there. Distribution.

[00:08:21] Again, we will use local distribution channels to distribute our products into the market. But then the skills development that we've done over the last six years is pretty amazing to see that, you know, we've now got, for example, a country like Malawi. We have got technicians that's been trained by us. We've got tool makers. We've got electricians. You know, opportunities like this was just not available or not enough of that was available in the market. And I think we've, we've addressed that well.

[00:08:50] And we're proud of what we've achieved with our people. What would you say are some of the biggest challenges you face trying to implement this type of method in terms of your manufacturing locally? I mean, the challenge is, is as the first challenge was is skills. You know, do we have the local skill set in country? Do we have technical colleges that could train people to be aligned with world class manufacturing practices, et cetera? And that's been a challenge.

[00:09:19] But we've overcome that by investing in our people and do good skills development programs that works well. And another challenge for manufacturing locally is it's always risky because you need to ensure that the communities, like I said before, is going to accept your product. And in a lot of communities where we operate in, this is, this is new and, you know, changing the mindset of people to, to adopt or accept this new technology is sometimes a challenge.

[00:09:49] But we've been pretty successful with good marketing and educating the market of how to use our products and the benefits of it. Keeping on the theme of challenges, what would you say are some of the biggest challenges faced by communities that rely on the old or traditional cooking methods? Availability of fuels, I think is a big issue. As populations grow in the rural area, there's just not firewood around them anymore.

[00:10:18] The resources around the villages just can't sustain and it's a real concern. And so by, by creating products that reduces less firewood, we are empowering people to spend less time on, on, on, on collecting firewood. As we all know charcoal, the way the legal charcoal trade in Africa is, it's a real concern for deforestation. And we're merely trying to create cookstoves that use less fuels.

[00:10:46] So, and, and, and hopefully would save the existing forest resources around the rural areas and the urban areas. Brilliant, brilliant. As you mentioned, the availability of fuels and firewoods, that is a challenge for those communities. So from a environmental impact perspective, what positives have you seen from the work that you're doing? We've engaged with communities and we've, we found that the number one thing is time.

[00:11:16] Human needs to get up at four o'clock in the morning, potentially all two, three kilometers to get access to firewood. Walk back, make a fire on a three stone fire, just to cook food for, for, for the children before they go to school. By using this reduced or this advanced stoves, they use a lot less fuel and therefore the woman has got more free time and less effort. So I think it's quite big, the impact that we've made.

[00:11:45] We've seen in certain areas that talking to local Paramount chiefs where they will say to us, our forests are coming back because all of a sudden we don't, we don't have to cut trees. We can use just small sticks and tweaks to, to, to use in our cookstores. Thank you for sharing. As you've touched on the impact or uplift it has on the women in lower income communities. I know you have a woman led solar panel manufacturing plant in Cape town.

[00:12:13] Can you tell us a bit more about that? Yeah. So the manufacturing plant in Cape town, which currently has got the capacity to, to manufacture from 10 watt panels all the way up to 550 watt panels. And then it's got an annual capacity of about 200 to 250 megawatts per annum that we can manufacture. And because our products, our end user 90% of the time are women, right? The cook stoves in Africa traditionally are still being used by, by, by women.

[00:12:43] And we thought, why would we not just make this opportunity to get women from communities in, in, in the Western Cape, employ them to manufacture for women. Um, and all though, you know, in the initially the thought was more about creating, contributing to equality. So everybody's creating more equal opportunities for women in the workplace.

[00:13:10] But at the end of the day, it was a very wise decision because the women are really, really good at what they do. Um, in that sense, we wouldn't change that at all. So how many women do you currently have working there? Currently we've got 24. Fantastic. So what's the plan for the future in terms of growing or expanding that plant? Yeah.

[00:13:31] So we, we are currently expanding our value, I mean, side of the business in Mozambique, Malawi, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. So the focus is going to be empowering women, bringing women in manufacturing, um, in those jurisdictions as well. Currently we, for example, in Mozambique, our, our assembly plant or manufacturing plant is, is run by, by a female as well.

[00:13:58] So, um, we are committed to empower the women of Africa to manufacture as well as to, to create products for them that will make their lives easier. So, um, we all know that to expand, it requires investment, additional capital, which sometimes can impact the bottom line. But how do you ensure that your solar and cooking solutions remain affordable to lower income households while still trying to expand at the same time?

[00:14:27] Yeah, it's a very fine line and it's difficult to always get that right. It's just innovation. Um, we've got an amazing team of engineers that work very well to get the best, most affordable materials, uh, designs to ensure longevity of the products. And we're working with various institutions to buy either grants or carbon financing to give people access to these, to these products.

[00:14:55] But it's been a challenge and it's ongoing challenge. Um, but I must say by creating local opportunities and, and by valuating locally, we do bring the costs down because of the transportation costs. So we can get supply the market cheaper prices in the traditional way of importing it from other countries. You mentioned something interesting there in terms of exploring grants and I guess, in storm and plans to make the products more accessible.

[00:15:23] Can you elaborate on how these payment models work? So we, we use two different models. We've got our own retail facilities, you know, own retail facilities. We will, we will offer lay by it's either cash purchase or lay by. We also have been working with local micro finances to finance people into this. And another part of our distribution is business to business.

[00:15:51] So we will supply smaller businesses with give them access to this products to, and give them credit to be able to purchase enough of this. And then as they sell it and build their business, we benefit from that as well. So how have these payment models been received by the customers so far? Very well. Um, we, we've been very successful in this model. Um, and yeah, especially the lay buying. And people want to owe the product.

[00:16:20] They don't want to necessarily pay it off and pay interest. So the lay buying model has been really, really good. Brilliant. Brilliant. I guess going back to something that we mentioned before in terms of trying to expand and making the products still affordable at the same time. I was just wondering what have been some of the biggest hurdles that you've faced when trying to scale operations across different African countries? The cost of shipping in Africa is, is very high.

[00:16:48] It, it almost costs the same to move a container from, from South African to Malawi than what it is to bring a container from, for example, China into South Africa. So that, that has been a challenge. Logistically moving products across borders. Um, and, and it's, and it's sad because it's just like, we need to, we need to build trade among ourselves to make this easier. And, and that's been very, very challenging.

[00:17:17] Um, but we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. We can see, you know, connections with railways are starting to happen and, and more competitive prices on, on, on, on, um, the road transport. So there, there is definitely some positive outlook for the future. Are there specific strategies that you've used to overcome these distribution and logistic challenges? You, you, you, you just need to continuously be on top of it.

[00:17:45] You, um, need to be innovative in your, in your distribution methods as well by looking at, you know, new routes that's opening up, moving from one country to another. It's strategically what, what, what makes more sense. So we've, we've been doing that since the founding of the company and, and, uh, we've managed to overcome a lot of these challenges. It's, it is still difficult. I guess one area that helps with overcoming these challenges are strong partnerships.

[00:18:14] So are there any strong partnerships that you currently have that have been quite key in terms of the growth or just making your work a lot more efficient or economical? So we've got to supply a partnering program. And what we believe is that for us to be successful, we need to ensure that our, that our suppliers are, are benefiting as well. And so we have got regular engagements with them.

[00:18:39] Um, we ensure that, you know, they're compliant and we advise them on how they can do business better. And, and it's a partnership, just not a transaction. So we engaged in all the time and, and, and that has been really helpful for us. They're part of our team. Our suppliers are part of our team. So keeping on the theme of partnerships, how does it work when it comes to the innovation or product developments?

[00:19:05] Is that done all in house or are there different partners that you work with to enable you to innovate? 90% of it is in house. Um, and, and when I say it's in house, it's, it's, it's, it's not centralized. It's, it's, we get innovative innovation from all the countries that we operate in. Um, we have in the past identified, um, technologies that has really, or that we could see as the potential.

[00:19:32] And then we will invest in, in, in, um, in those innovators to, to, and empower them to, to get it to market. Um, but, but most of our products are in house. Um, we have worked with, um, work with tertiary education, universities, technical colleges, et cetera. But that's more on a skills development side where, where we, we, we like to innovate in house. And, and, and it's, it's solving problems.

[00:20:02] It's identifying what the problem is. And that is what we get from the communities. And then we sit around the table and we work with those communities and said, how can we solve these problems? And what would you like, and how would that work for you? And, and, and, uh, that, that's been the process that we, that we followed up to now. As you mentioned the innovation and technology, 90% of it is all in house.

[00:20:24] So are you currently exploring or investing in any new technologies to, I guess, improve the energy efficiency of the products that you currently have? We continuously working on new, new innovations. That's, that's a big part of what we do.

[00:20:40] Um, we are currently working on a very exciting project, which, which I don't really want to say much on now, but which is a really, really affordable cook stoves for the urban market that has got advanced biomass stove efficiencies. And, and then there's plenty more. We are, we are always innovating and trying to get new, new products to market. Brilliant.

[00:21:03] So it sounds like with the work that you do in house, you have a great understanding in terms of what's happening in that space, in terms of the energy space within Africa. Are there any current trends that you're seeing that you're quite excited about? Yeah, I think there's a couple, but the one thing that is really starting to look like it's happening is microgrids. Yes.

[00:21:28] Uh, which I think is the big solution for a massive energy problem in the, especially in the rural areas. Um, I visited some very exciting projects in West Africa. We're not seeing yet the same popping up in, in, in, in Southern Africa, but it's starting to happen. So I think one of the most exciting thing for me is, is, is microgrids and that communities are moving forward with that.

[00:21:51] I think the other thing is also deregulating or deregulation from, from governments and allowing, uh, more players in the, in the space and not just the local utilities is, is also exciting. Um, but there is a lot of excitement in the energy sector in Southern Africa and we're in Africa, but I need, and we've got a real problem and I think it looks like there's real solutions for the problem now, which is extremely exciting.

[00:22:16] You mentioned something quite interesting there in terms of deregulation of governments during the time at energy Africa. Do you ever get involved in any policy discussions with government to improve energy access for underserved communities? We, we, we work with all the local regulation or legislation and, and regulators. We've, we've been engaged with them and we've given them our views.

[00:22:43] Um, but because energy Africa is not necessarily a, a company that really focuses on utility scale operations. We more trying to find solutions for people that don't have access to those utilities. We have been working with all the governments that we are operating in and giving our views. And yeah, so we have many. Thank you for that.

[00:23:08] So I guess looking ahead, where do you see energy manufacturing and distribution in Africa in the next five to 10 years? We should be able to cater for our own manufacturing needs and resolving our energy crisis on this continent. We have got young dynamic populations that need to have access to the market. So it definitely seems like this drive from governments to, to achieve that.

[00:23:38] And, uh, we are very happy to see that, but we do believe that Africa can solve Africa's problems by and create value and manufacture and become a global player in this field. We've got unique problems and, uh, and, and we're finding every day more and more solutions for them. Indeed. Indeed. So looking closer to home, where'd you see energy Africa in five to 10 years time? What impact are you hoping to make in this space on the continent?

[00:24:06] We are always building more stronger partnerships, as I say, with carbon companies, mining houses, et cetera, to, to, to help us in and, and, uh, to get these products out, um, to the communities. But we are excited. Um, we, we are growing markets. Um, we, we hoping to, to add at least three more countries in the next, uh, 24 to 48 months.

[00:24:33] And, uh, yeah, we, we want to be a player in Africa, in this market that we service. As people, we often have quotes, mantras, proverbs, affirmations that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good. Do you have one that you can share with us today? Yeah. My favorite saying is, uh, and, and this is directly quoted from me, resilience is power.

[00:24:59] And I think, especially in where we are as a company that that's been proven, you know, we've taken on things that, that people would have told us back then when we started the company, this will never work. But because of resilience, we've made it work. So resilience is power. Brilliant. Fantastic way to close today's conversation.

[00:25:20] Andre, thank you for sharing your expertise and the incredible work Energy Africa is doing to make sustainable energy solutions more accessible across the continent. Looking forward to seeing how the company continues to grow and make impact on more lives. So thank you for your time today. Thank you, Tese. Have a good one. Thank you to everyone who has listened and stay tuned to the podcast.

[00:25:46] If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share or tell a friend about it. You can also rate, review us in Apple podcast or wherever you download your podcast. Thank you and see you next week for the Unlocking Africa podcast. Thank you.