Solar-powered ColdHubs Combat Food Waste
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu has created ColdHubs, food-storage rooms entirely powered by solar energy, to reduce food spoilage due to the lack of cold storage along Nigeria’s food supply chain. Over 80 million Nigerians face food insecurity, while the country loses and wastes around 40% of its produced food annually. Food waste contributes up to 10% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, which ColdHubs aims to reduce. The service costs around 25 cents per day for farmers and retailers to store a crate of produce, keeping it fresh for up to 21 days. Ikegwuonu created the solution to have social as well as environmental impacts, creating 66 jobs for women, empowering and changing them into agents of change within their households and communities. With 54 ColdHubs in 22 Nigerian states, Ikegwuonu has been able to store 42,042 tons of food, which would have otherwise been thrown away or sold at ridiculous prices, and sign up 5,250 smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers to use the service. The dream is to expand the technology and service to other African countries facing the same food spoilage challenges.