Solar coolers for small fishers and farmers

This startup helps avoid food waste with a sustainable end-to-end cold chain

Spotted: Around 30-40 per cent of food that’s produced in Africa gets lost or wasted before it reaches consumers, often due to disjointed supply chains and inadequate storage facilities. With 20 per cent of the continent’s population suffering from undernourishment, something urgently needs to change, and one Kenyan startup believes it has a solution.

Keep IT Cool tackles this waste problem in multiple ways. First, it provides fishers with off-grid solar-powered cold storage units, which extend the shelf life of their catch, enabling them to hold onto their product and negotiate better prices with buyers. Traditionally, fishers are forced to sell their catch quickly to avoid spoilage, leading to a price crash from a supply surplus.

Next, the startup offers an end-to-end cold chain logistics solution, which producers can book using an online platform in order to access distant markets. Keep IT Cool also directly connects fishers and farmers with retailers via the Markiti e-commerce platform, brokering agreements at an agreed cost to help producers avoid the fluctuating prices that often arise when dealing with produce middlemen.

According to the company, it has reduced the post-harvest losses of 1.5 million kilogrammes of food by 98 per cent since 2022. By reducing the produce that goes to waste, Keep IT Cool is helping farmers and fishers maximise profits from every harvest or catch, as well as access new markets.

Keep IT Cool is growing rapidly. Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, UK Aid, and Google, among others, it plans to launch a 70-tonne solar-powered cold chain distribution facility this year. The company intends to expand into other markets in East Africa and handle a wider variety of produce. It was also named a finalist for this year’s Earthshot Prize.

Written By: Joshua Solomon