Intrinsic
Supamoto Project Summary
SupaMoto is a pioneering company in peri-urban Malawi, offering a sustainable and scalable cooking solution that helps users save up to 50% compared to charcoal. The project utilizes locally produced waste biomass pellets in micro-gasification stoves, providing a modern, eco-friendly cooking alternative. The SupaMoto stove, developed by ECS, is highly efficient and achieves near Tier-5 performance in emissions and efficiency. It enables precise heat control, resulting in up to 30% fuel savings compared to other biomass stoves.
Through its innovative "Cooking-as-a-Service" model, SupaMoto lends stoves to users who purchase 30 kg or more of pellets per month, eliminating the upfront cost barrier. This approach has been highly successful in Malawi and Zambia, with demand for the solution continuously growing. SupaMoto employs Lead Generators—local entrepreneurs who promote the solution within their communities and host "Cooking Club" demonstration events. This strategy has proven highly effective, with over 90% of participants converting to customers.
The project is aimed at providing access and utilization of pellet cookstoves to 4,500 low-income households. Furthermore, the project will provide at least a 20% increase in aggregate income to over 150 households and create 39 jobs, 50% of which will be for women or youth.
Through the GETF project, SupaMoto aims to expand its reach by investing in production capacity and marketing. The key components of the project include:
Setting up a pellet production factory
Procurement of stoves
Establishment of sales outlets
Setting up a Call Centre
Product awareness for the mass market
Key Project Innovation:
The project's innovative "Cooking-as-a-Service" model eliminates the upfront cost barrier by lending stoves to users in exchange for purchasing pellets. This approach has proven successful in both Malawi and Zambia, making modern cooking solutions more accessible to peri-urban communities.
Status of Project Implementation:
SupaMoto Limited was contracted under the GETF project on October 14, 2024. Between October and December 2024, the company’s primary focus was on discussions with Pyxus regarding a space at the factory to install the pellet production facility. However, as of the time of writing this report, the two parties are still in discussions.
Through these discussions, it was discovered that Pyxus Agriculture is currently facing a significant shortage of groundnuts due to poor harvests in the 2023/24 growing season. This shortage has directly impacted their ability to produce the groundnut shell pellets originally planned for SupaMoto’s customer stoves. Additionally, SupaMoto has been conducting technical evaluations and tests to assess the viability of burning groundnut-based pellets in their stoves. Based on these developments, the two parties are now exploring the possibility of using alternative biomass options from Pyxus’ tree plantations.
Given this situation, progress on the project has been slow, particularly concerning the Milestone 1 deliverables, which include:
Development of an ESG Framework
Signing of a contract between Pyxus and SupaMoto
Obtaining quotations, proforma invoices, or invoices for factory equipment for pellet production, the Call Centre, stoves, and bikes
These deliverables are essential for unlocking the Milestone 1 reimbursement from UNDP. Therefore, the GETF PMU will continue to provide support to ensure the smooth delivery of the project.