Modern Cooking Facility for Africa signs its first agreement with a clean cooking service provider

The first agreement by Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA) has been signed with a women-owned and led company in Zimbabwe selling biogas digesters to support the scale-up of clean and modern cooking solutions in rural and peri-urban areas of the country, potentially benefitting thousands of Zimbabweans.

Photo: A family in a rural village in Zimbabwe receiving biogas for cooking from a biodigester – Lanforce Energy

The agreement has been signed with a local women-led company established in 2010. Today, Lanforce Energy is one of the leading biogas companies in Zimbabwe offering biodigesters for households, farmers, entrepreneurs and institutions. MCFA financing will mobilise additional co-financing, doubling the amount of provided MCFA support by the end of the project implementation.

“I’m extremely happy to announce our first MCFA investee in our mission to introduce modern cooking solutions and create long-term sustainable markets in several Sub-Saharan African countries. We are especially pleased to support finance for women entrepreneurs and to welcome Lanforce Energy as our first portfolio company,” comments Ash Sharma, Vice President at Nefco and Head of MCFA.

With the results-based financing provided from MCFA, the company aims to scale up its business activities by selling approx. 2,400 new biodigesters, which would total over 6,000 clean cooking services, as some of the biodigesters can cater for multiple stoves, for example several households sharing one biodigester. The new activities are expected to benefit up to 28,000 Zimbabweans in the rural and peri-urban areas of the country. Lanforce Energy currently operates in 26 districts and with the financing from MCFA, the company plans to extend its operational activities to an additional 24 districts.

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