{"id":7782,"date":"2020-12-23T14:47:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T11:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=7782"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:31:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:31:21","slug":"meet-18-year-old-graduate-greening-informal-food-stalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2020\/12\/23\/meet-18-year-old-graduate-greening-informal-food-stalls\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet 18-year old graduate greening informal food stalls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Gabriella Kisoi may be only 18 but she\u2019s an IT graduate and CEO of a clean-technology company modernizing informal marketplaces in Kenya through efficient, solar-powered vegetable stalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Together with her college partners, Winnie Mashirima, 21, and Martin Yegon, 24, she co-founded Kool Kibanda while studying Bachelor of Business and Information Technology at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi. Gabriella graduated last year, alongside Winnie, while Yegon is due this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture1-1-886x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7785\" width=\"468\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture1-1-886x1024.jpg 886w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture1-1-259x300.jpg 259w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture1-1-768x888.jpg 768w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture1-1-585x676.jpg 585w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture1-1.jpg 889w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><figcaption>A vendor in his kool kibanda<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Through\nKool Kibanda, the three have designed and come up with custom-made market\nstalls with a cold storage unit for preserving fruits and vegetables and fully\npowered by solar panels as a single package. Their goal is to transform filthy\nmarketplaces by replacing rickety stalls with hygienic, licensed and organised shops,\nwhile cutting spoilage losses with solar refrigeration and lighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur kibandas are able to transform the informal\nmarketplace in the following ways; they\u2019re preservative and profitable as they\ncome with a cold storage unit, reducing spoilage, they\u2019re easy to clean and are\nsecure because they contain lockable compartments for fruits and veggies,\u201d\nGabriella said in an interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She says the goal was to give the stalls a modern touch and feel, while at the same time maintaining the traditional vibe of vibandas (<em>Swahili <\/em>word for informal stalls).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Kool Kibanda: Modernizing local kibandas in Kenya through efficient, solar-powered vegetable stalls\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_CPcFXK-yvY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Most small-scale vendors in informal set-ups suffer\nhuge losses whenever business is slow and they have no preservation equipment,\nwhose high cost remains a barrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet for a daily rent of $3 (Sh300) for the\nKool Kibanda, the traders can now have refrigeration and much more to preserve their\nperishables for up to two weeks, according to Gabriella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a deal sweetener, the social entrepreneurs have gone ahead to arrange for a licence for traders renting the Kool Kibanda, effectively bringing them into the formal bracket. The formal status is expected to increase the creditworthiness of smalltime traders often shunned by lenders, and access to funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur\nmission is that we will not stop until each and every fruit and vegetable\nvendor across sub-Saharan Africa has access to this tool of empowerment,\u201d said Gabriella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nthree innovators were among the top six finalists in the Hult Prize in the\nDubai challenge and spent $2,000 (Sh200,000) on their prototype. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\ndon\u2019t have to burn through stacks of cash to create an innovative product. It\u2019s\nnot just about the black ink, rather sustainable, green products, truly\nbeneficial to humanity and the planet,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The climate-smart stalls, with zero carbon, come with LED screens for advertising, sockets and LED lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concept has been successfully piloted in\nKajiado and is now set to be spread to informal markets in Nairobi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cThe vendors in Kajiado said they saw huge improvements with the shelf life of their goods and had more satisfied customers purchasing their products since it stayed fresh,\u201d said Gabriella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group\u2019s long-term vision is to spread\nreach to all markets across sub-Saharan Africa. They have since inked a\npartnership deal with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for goodwill as\nthey spread their tentacles to city markets, including estate kiosks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the rollout of the solar-powered\nstalls, Gabriella reckons that they\u2019re playing their fair share of climate\naction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe believe that the most effective way to change the world or reverse the tide of climate change isn\u2019t so much about activism, but rather going out there, innovating and creating meaningful change through products and ideas.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/chemsitry-graduate-strikes-liquid-gold-from-used-diapers\/\">Chemistry Graduate Strikes Liquid Gold From Used Diapers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gabriella Kisoi may be only 18 but she\u2019s an IT graduate and CEO of a clean-technology company modernizing informal marketplaces in Kenya through efficient, solar-powered vegetable stalls. Together with her&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[161,661,800,938,1246],"class_list":["post-7782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-responsibility","tag-africa-nazarene-university","tag-fruits-and-veggies","tag-hult-prize","tag-kool-kibanda","tag-solar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}