“Clean cooking is just that. It is clean. No soot, no smoke, and saves fuel. This is the message that I use to attract my potential customers.”
Elizabeth Mwamburi, a 48-year-old entrepreneur from Maweni, Taita Taveta County, in southeastern Kenya, operates a small business where buses stop on their way south to the coast or northwest to Nairobi. She offers travelers a selection of bottled water, biscuits, sweets, roasted peanuts, and bananas. Despite the challenges and small returns, Elizabeth’s business has supported her family, a responsibility she’s shouldered from a young age since losing her husband in a tragic road accident. She has since been the sole provider for her two children, guiding them through their primary school years.
She started working with Solar Sister after Taita Taveta Business Development Associate Kelvin Thoya introduced her to the opportunity as a Solar Sister Entrepreneur in March 2023. Elizabeth’s main challenge was the start-up capital. But, she saved enough money to purchase the first cook stove, also locally called a ‘jiko.
Kelvin met Elizabeth in a “terrible and challenging state.” At the time, she was struggling financially. She was pursued by a bank after failing to pay a loan she had taken to stock up her business. She played hide-and-seek games with the bank, but they eventually caught up with her, taking away all she had.
Kelvin encouraged her to get enough cash to buy her first cookstove. Elizabeth got a small loan from a women’s group she is a member of. It is a “merry-go-round group” where the group collects money for each other to buy a cookstove in turns. She was also able to sell some groundnuts to make up the rest. Elizabeth purchased a stove, and she was able to sell the stove immediately and make a quick profit. This inspired Elizabeth to market the cookstoves actively. She now focuses on selling clean cookstoves since the returns are higher than selling fruit and other trinkets.
“I move around with the stoves, hawking them at the same bus terminus from where I have been selling bananas. I target mostly the passengers who have boarded the public transport buses, awaiting their departure to various destinations, especially in the off-grid upcountry areas.”
Elizabeth hopes to cover as many areas in her community as possible as she has seen the benefits of using clean cookstoves in her pockets and health.
“I want to take my firstborn daughter to the university to secure her future. This opportunity that Solar Sister and CUSL (casino utan svensk licens) has given me could be the solution for my children’s education.
Having gone through a very tough life, I want my children to live a better life, which they can only get with a good education. I have to work extra hard to make enough money for their education. My firstborn daughter has finished high school. She is waiting to join the university if she gets the required college fees. At the same time, my son will finish high school soon and hopefully join the university.
I have started to make a profit through the business. I want to get more cash and make bigger purchases for sale. My biggest challenge right now is in the capital. I cannot buy as many cook stoves as I would like, as I can only buy one at a time.”
“Liz Solar Sister,” so nicknamed amongst the locals, is a great mobilizer. She has enrolled more of her associates in the Solar Sister Entrepreneurship program.
“I have seen the benefits of doing the clean energy business. I know how many other women in my community are equally going through hard economic times, so I have recruited many of them to become clean energy entrepreneurs with Solar Sister. We are friends and have formed our Sisterhood groups around Taita Taveta to support and empower each other.”
One of our new star entrepreneurs, we support Elizabeth in her journey to make sure her children attain university degrees.