Koolboks - A2E Fund

The average fish trader in Ijora market in Nigeria loses 30% of their product daily due to a lack of affordable, reliable refrigeration. Because the grid is unreliable, traders supplement with diesel generators, which are harmful for the environment and expensive, spending roughly $4 every 2 days on fuel to run the generator. Solar refrigeration could be a potential solution to ensure fish traders have access to consistent refrigeration; however, the up-front costs are prohibitive.

Koolboks: a sustainable model to finance off-grid solar refrigerators to female fish traders in Nigeria.

Nigeria, Lagos

In June 2020, Koolboks ran a pilot program to test consumer response to the Koolhome refrigerators. This campaign was targeted at women fish traders in Ijora market in Lagos because of the many challenges they face in preserving their fish and other highly perishable goods. Over the course of the campaign, Koolboks recorded a high demand for the KoolHome freezers aided with PAYG financing from their asset financing partner, Sterling Bank.

This project aims to scale the Ijora Market pilot program by providing affordable cooling solutions to over 120 female fish traders and other frozen goods (chicken, etc.) with 150 solar-powered Koolhome refrigerators in 8 markets in Lagos.

Expected outputs:

• Substantial savings on diesel generators
• Improve the livelihoods of 120 new customers and their families
• Avoid food spoilage
• Catalysing Investment - by facilitating the entry of two core financing partners: Sterling Bank and Charm Impact

Status July 2022:

• Recruitment and training of sales agents to support market activations 
• 22 new jobs created
• Empowerment, training, certification and partnership with more than 60 direct sales agents and installers
• Mega activation campaign in 27 major markets in Lagos and neighbouring villages
• 144 customers onboarded and 150 freezers sold 
• Execution rate: 100%