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Ayoola Dominic, co-founder of Koolboks, a tech startup which has come to bridge the refrigeration gap in Nigeria with solar-powered refrigeration system, in this interview with CHIBUIKE CHUKWU, speaks about the impact the product will have on Nigerian small scale businesses, especially those in the frozen food business. Excerpts:
Tell us about Koolboks refrigeration?
Some key major problems we have in Africa are wastage of food and medications due to lack of refrigeration. In Africa, we have three significant challenges.
One, 40% of food is wasted; also, we have about five out of every 10 patients die due to vaccine spoilage.
Two, we know that affording a refrigerator is usually expensive and when you have it, there is no electricity. Over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity and therefore lack access to refrigeration. And when they have refrigeration, the cost of owning one is an uneasy task. Because after getting a refrigerator, they typically have to get a generator and then you start buying fuel to run your refrigerator.
Thirdly, we are talking of the environment; most of the refrigerants that are being used are dangerous.
They have been banned elsewhere, and these are 80,000 times more dangerous than carbon, but that is what still exists in African countries.
So what we have done is provide a solution using sun and water, which are very cheap. We make it pay-as-go to make it easy for individuals and shop owners to pay on a monthly, weekly or daily basis. You can pay as low as N12,000 weekly or monthly.
Our mission is to make cooling affordable and accessible to everyone that needs it and to stimulate small-scale businesses in Nigeria.
What are the other benefits of Koolboks refrigerators to Nigerians?
Koolboks freezers come with four LED bulbs and four charging points which means that whether or not you have public power, generator or not, Koolboks system is one that powers your house with light and you at the same time charge your phones.
So, it provides light, energy and refrigeration in a single unit. That also means providing your family all these from natural energy source which is not diluted.
It is like using the sun and water to power your home which you do not have to pay for. We give you the opportunity to pay for it every month for the next 24 months; God has given you sun and you have water in the well which is natural.
The value that comes with Koolboks is immeasurable for family and for small business owners who can sell all manner of drinks without having to sweat to get a generator.
All we are doing is to empower families and others. All they have to do is to approach us with a demand and show evidence that they can pay back and then they have it.
While going through Koolboks products, I read of something like monitoring the temperature of the refrigerator and its battery; tell us more about that?
We are able to monitor the temperature, the battery voltage on the refrigerators; why are we doing this? We figure out that most of our customers are small business owners who are into frozen food business.
In frozen food business you have to preserve the integrity of your products. You know meat is meant to be kept at a particular temperature and the same thing goes for fish and others.
They shouldn’t go beyond that temperature for you to be able to sell your foods fresh and clean or you poison people generally, so the whole idea is for us to remotely monitor the temperature of the fridge.
It’s just like someone or kidney that requires oxygen at a particular rate and you know what it means when he does not get it. Or what it means when a frozen food dealer or vaccine preserver goes off power for four or five hours? They become understandably worried because they could lose a lot in terms of spoilage.
That is why we monitor the temperature of the refrigerators and also monitor the battery voltage.
There is no issue of transport; just monitor it and put a phone call and you will be asked to do this or that and it will be fine. That is the main reason we make sure to monitor our freezers.
We understand that our customers deal in perishables. One good thing is that this is easy and can be done on the palm of your hand, with your phone from anywhere in the world.
It is possible to do this even in areas where there is no network.
Sometimes we know that vaccines are more expensive that the refrigerator itself.
So, because of the value we place on it and for our customers’ satisfaction, it is absolutely necessary to know the temperature of our refrigerators and to also know the voltage of the batteries and we do that to preserve the integrity of the vaccines and other goods. We have some of our refrigerators in remote areas.
we have them over water in areas that are not accessible but we still monitor these.
We can have this sometimes in area where there is no network because it works with GSM network.
We can have a few delays, may be five minutes delay but we have the ability to take data anywhere in the world even where there is no network.
How has Koolboks helped to stem unemployment and boost the Nigerian economy?
Koolboks has deployed capital to expand across Nigeria, including building the team to support its growing B2C business and constructing a local assembly facility.
We have employed a team that is working assiduously and through that ensure employment of many Nigerians to drive this surge.
Can Koolboks be used with public electricity?
Yes it can work with or without public power; you have the option to switch in-between both.
Koolboks has the ability to switch between NEPA and Solar. But our campaign is ‘shame on NEPA’ because we have come to bridge the gap.
What sector of the economy needs Koolboks most because you talked of vaccines? Can we say it is mostly needed in health facilities?
Hospitals and labs can’t pay our bills alone; how many hospitals and labs do we have? Truth is that Koolboks is for every home and particularly those small business owners that require constant energy for their products and services. If the frozen food business owners are not careful, they can throw away their goods because of lack of power and that is the major problem we want to solve; these are the ones we majorly target. Why go for electricity when the sun is free?
What plans are there to penetrate other African countries?
We are currently in 18 countries and out of the 18 countries, 16 of them are in Africa.
We are targeting offices in Mozambique and Congo in the next two years. We are building our assembly plant in Nigeria already and it is very big. We started building from the scratch.
Chibuike Chukwu is a Senior Correspondent with Independent Newspapers Limited, a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN). He has reported sports, especially football, for more than eight years and presently writes on Nigeria football league, the national football teams as well as other sports. His professional career has taking him through a couple of media organizations. He is a graduate of the University of Calabar.
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Independent Newspapers Limited, registered on July 17, 2001 (RC No: 419927), commenced publication on October 1, 2001. With registered office at 8, WEMPCO Road, Ogba, Ikeja, it publishes INDEPENDENT, Monday - Friday, Saturday Independent, Sunday Independent, independent.ng, TV Independent on YouTube and IndependentNgr (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram).
Mercy Johnson, Husband Celebrate 11th Marriage Anniversary
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Mercy Johnson, Husband Celebrate 11th Marriage Anniversary
What’s Tickin’ On TikTok?
JJC Skillz Reveals Why He celebrated Estranged Wife, Funke Akindele
2023: SDP Candidate Challenges Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso To Declare Assets Ahead…
We Held Meetings In UK For Interest Of Nigerians – Wike
2023 Polls: CSOs Query Buhari’s Appointment Of Inexperienced RECs
PSG Coach Galtier Calls Juventus ‘Monument Of European Football’
Tuchel To Serve Touchline Ban Against Leicester
Ajax Reject €90m Bid From Man Utd For Antony
Food Sufficiency: Okowa Calls For More Investment In Agriculture
NBC Bows To Pressure, Suspends Shut Down Of Indebted Broadcast Stations
Effective Judiciary Key To Success Of Maritime Sector – Jamoh
Four Killed In Tigray Airstrike By Ethiopia
At Least 17 Dead In Uganda After Drinking Toxic Liquor
US Inflation Eases As Consumer Prices Rise 6.3 Per cent In July
Proposed 5% Tax On Data, Calls: Operators, Stakeholders Unwilling To Yield Ground
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2023 And Okotie’s Interim Govt.
Why Nigerian Church Leaders No Longer Perform Miracles
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