Ecobora

What Ecobora does

Ecobora is a privately held Kenyan clean energy company headquartered in Nairobi, with a manufacturing facility in Kajiado, that designs, manufactures, and distributes solar-powered cooking boilers (solar cookstoves) to rural marginalized schools in Kenya. Founded approximately 7 years ago with a stated mission to alleviate energy poverty in African schools by 2050, the company has deployed its cookstoves across 123 rural schools in Nyamira County, serving 85,000+ students. The core technology — an award-winning solar cooking boiler — replaces firewood in school kitchens, eliminates direct emissions from cooking, and reduces school cooking costs by approximately 80%, enabling schools to redirect savings toward free school meal programs and reportedly contributing to a 75% reduction in school dropout rates at participating institutions.

The business operates a dual-revenue model combining hardware sales (the solar cookstove unit) with monetized carbon credits generated by the zero-emission cooking displacement, which the company describes as a financing mechanism to accelerate adoption in underserved markets. Operations are supported by a lean core team of approximately 6 members — including a CEO/Founder (Justine Abuga), CTO (Nyairo Kangwana), Operations Manager, Business Development Lead (Joy Kwamboka), Software Engineer, and Marketing Lead — plus a board member (Phillip Keil, SEZ). Ecobora sells directly to schools via an inquiry-based website channel, and runs a carbon monitoring sub-brand called Emissionfy (emissionfy.ecobora.co). Reported social and environmental impact metrics include 275,250 tons of trees saved from firewood conversion and 30 tons of CO2e reduced per school. The company has received the AFSIA Best Solar Project Award (2023) and the Africa Queen of Energy Innovation Award (2024), and has secured partnerships with sector funders TRANSFORM and Modern Energy Cooking Services.

Name

Ecobora

Legal name

Ecobora

Website

https://ecobora.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ecobora is a Kenyan clean energy company that manufactures and sells award-winning solar-powered cooking boilers to rural marginalized schools in Kenya, replacing firewood kitchens, reducing cooking costs by 80%, and generating carbon credits, with 123 schools and 85,000+ students served.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Solar Cookstoves

NAICS

Biomass Electric Power Generation (221117), Solar Electric Power Generation (221114), Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (33341), Heating Equipment (except Warm Air Furnaces) Manufacturing (333414)

SIC

Cogeneration Services & Small Power Producers (4991)

akta.pro primary industry

Agricultural Residues & Energy Crops Biomass Power (Stover, Bagasse, Pellets) (EUACAIAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Climate-Smart Farming & GHG Reduction (Emissions Accounting, Methane/N2O Reduction Practices) (AFAGAMAH), Forestry & Wood Waste Biomass Power (Sawmill Residues, Black Liquor) (EUACAIAG), Agroforestry & Perennial Cropping Systems (EUABABAD), Biofuels & Renewable Fuels Switching (Biomethane/RNG, Bio-oils, Sustainable Biomass) (EUABAJAD)

Keywords

• Solar cooking boilers
• Clean cookstoves
• Carbon credits
• Solar thermal systems
• School energy solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Solar Cookstove Hardware Sales: Sale of solar powered cooking boilers to rural schools. Schools reduce cooking costs by 80%, enabling them to offer free school meals while generating carbon credits.
2. Carbon Credits: Award-winning solutions generate carbon credits that can be utilized to offer carbon financing to rural underserved markets in Africa, accelerating adoption of clean cooking solutions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Ecobora designs, manufactures and sells award-winning solar-powered cookstoves/boilers intended for school kitchens in rural Kenya, replacing firewood-based cooking with zero-emission solar thermal energy. The cookstoves reduce schools' cooking costs by approximately 80% and generate verifiable carbon credits that Ecobora uses to offer carbon financing to rural underserved markets, accelerating clean cooking adoption.

Product overview

Ecobora offers a single unified product—the Solar Powered CookStove (solar cooking boiler)—with carbon credits as a complementary service offering. The cookstove is an award-winning clean cooking solution for rural schools that replaces firewood, leading to zero emissions. The carbon credits generated by this solution are used to offer carbon financing to accelerate adoption. The company has been in the cookstoves business for 7 years, serving the Kenyan and East African market.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Emissionfy: A carbon emission monitoring platform operated by Ecobora at https://emissionfy.ecobora.co/

Products and services

• Solar Powered Cookstove Award-winning solar-powered cooking boiler designed for school kitchens that replaces firewood with zero-emission solar thermal cooking. Targets rural, marginalized schools in Kenya, enabling an 80% reduction in cooking costs and allowing schools to offer free school meals while generating carbon credits.
• Emissionfy Carbon emission monitoring platform operated by Ecobora as a sub-brand at emissionfy.ecobora.co, used to measure and verify the environmental impact of solar cookstove deployments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% reduction in cooking costs for rural marginalized schools
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• d.light: Global solar product company providing lanterns, home systems, and appliances to off-grid customers across Africa and Asia. Comparable as a distributed solar hardware company with significant East African presence and pay-as-you-go financing, though focused on lighting/electricity rather than cooking.
• M-KOPA: Kenya-headquartered pay-as-you-go solar home system provider serving millions of off-grid customers across East Africa. Comparable as a Kenya-based pay-as-you-go distributed energy leader, though Ecobora focuses specifically on institutional cooking rather than household solar.
• Greenlight Planet (Sun King): Global pay-as-you-go solar home system provider operating across East Africa, India, and other emerging markets. Comparable as a distributed energy company serving off-grid East African customers with hardware-plus-financing model, though broader portfolio than Ecobora's cooking focus.

Others

• SolarCookers International: Global nonprofit promoting solar cooking technologies in developing regions, with focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Comparable as a sector-adjacent organization advocating the same solar thermal cooking category as Ecobora, though operating as a nonprofit rather than commercial manufacturer.

Direct peers

• BURN Manufacturing: Kenya-based clean cookstove manufacturer producing efficient biomass and gas cookstoves for East African households and institutions. Directly comparable as an East African clean cooking hardware company serving similar B2B/B2C segments with locally manufactured products.
• KOKO Networks: Kenya-based clean cooking fuel company delivering ethanol cooking fuel through a vendor network with smart metering. Directly comparable as a Kenya-based clean cooking company targeting low-income urban and peri-urban cooking customers with tech-enabled distribution.
• Sistema.bio: Mexico- and Kenya-based biodigester and clean cooking company serving smallholder farmers and institutions with carbon credit monetization. Comparable as a clean cooking hardware company with carbon finance as a core revenue stream and emerging East Africa presence.
• BioLite: US- and Kenya-based manufacturer of thermoelectric clean cookstoves and off-grid energy products serving households in sub-Saharan Africa. Comparable as a clean cooking hardware innovator with East African distribution and similar technology-led positioning.

Regional players

• PayGo Energy: Kenya-based pay-as-you-go LPG cooking fuel provider serving low-income urban households. Comparable as a Kenyan pay-as-you-go clean cooking company with similar customer base and financing model, though using LPG distribution rather than solar hardware.

Emerging players

• ATEC (Advanced Technology for Communities): Cambodia-headquartered pay-as-you-go clean cookstove and biodigester company for emerging Asia. Comparable as an emerging-market pay-as-you-go cookstove company with carbon credit revenues, though operating in different geographies with similar institutional and household clean cooking model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ecobora
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ECOBORA
• LinkedInke.linkedin.com/company/ecobora

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ecobora