Guev Cooker, Ideal Solution for African Culinary Efficiency

African cooking techniques with woodfuels are a deeply rooted local cultural heritage of great psychosocial importance. Three billion people around the world use polluting and inefficient open fireplaces or biomass cookstoves for cooking and heating. These households, made up mainly of women and young children, are exposed to harmful air pollution inside their homes and have kitchen rooms naturally smeared with black particles of carbon monoxide. It is the fourth cause of death in the world, and the second in developing countries, behind AIDS but ahead of well-known diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis. The use of these stoves also affects the environment, through the unsustainable exploitation of forests and biomass, and the livelihoods of the population. In sub-Saharan Africa, 93% of households in rural areas and 58% of households in urban areas depend on wood energy and it is estimated that the number of biomass users will increase by more than 40% to reach 922 million people before 2030 for a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission of 64% for wood and 36% for charcoal. In Benin, the energy sector is dominated by the use of traditional biomass products such as fuelwood, charcoal and marginally agricultural residues. This use of biomass-energy represents 44.2% in 2018 against 48.2% in 2010 and that of petroleum products 53.5% in 2018 against 49.4% in 2010 of the energy balance. Most of this biomass is used unsustainably and contributes to the accelerated decline of forest cover.

GUEV, is a low carbon footprint stove that aims to promote energy autonomy in cooking and lighting in rural and peri-urban households. This dual purpose integrates climate considerations into strategic options for economic production and contributes to the development of green industrialization leading to carbon-neutral structural transformation and sustainable and inclusive economic growth. This universal cooker consumes all types of dry biomass such as (briquettes/pellets, agricultural residues, palm nut shells, rice bran husks, etc.) and provides, in addition to the functions related to cooking, an electrical power supply independent, economical and off-grid. GUEV cooker differs from other existing models by four major functions: (1) an automatic burner that excludes the use of oil and matches, (2) a combustion balance regulator, (3) a time programmer of cooking equipped with buzzer of automatic extinction and (4) an energy autonomy allowing the supply of the "LED" lamps of 12 volts continuous while making possible the load of various electrical devices (laptops, radio sets, computers). In its application, Guev cooker has achieved the feat of combining fine fire (electrical energy) with strong fire (calorific energy). This technology is positioned as a tool in the fight against deforestation, prioritizing alternatives to charcoal and offers an important security dimension, with its start-up access key, which puts it out of the reach of children, in the absence of children. parents.

We target three (3) categories of customers. (1) Women in households, (2) productive units and (3) pastry chefs and bakers. At the level of the categories of household and productive unit customers, we want to improve their living conditions by bringing a break to the archaic and rudimentary facts that taint their cooking process. Now, at the household level with Guev Cooker, the woman cook or housekeeper has almost 50% of the usual time to go about other economic activities. Also, the same woman by adopting Guev Cooker, will see her old fuel expenses reduced by 50%. On the production unit side, Guev Cooker removes the tedious constraints of small and medium-sized post-harvest processing companies to have access to local, efficient, sustainable and lower-cost equipment. It is also a factor that encourages local competition, arouses a taste for entrepreneurship among young people and to have product lines of processed agricultural products, thus limiting post-harvest losses. At the level of pastry shops or bakers, Guev equipment makes it possible to have available, even in rural and remote areas, qualities and quantities of bread at a lower cost in order to meet the nutritional needs of the population. For households, we can categorize them into two subgroups. Those who subscribe to butane cooking gas and those who use wood or charcoal fuels. For butane gas, the household has no idea when the fuel is finished. This means that in the middle of cooking, the gas ends and the household is forced to switch back on the traditional three-stone or sheet metal fireplaces. The same applies to peddlers, and households experience difficulties in gaining access to charcoal and firewood, especially in rainy weather. The variation in the cost of fuel purchases, together with the high cost of butane gas, discourages women from serving the household well. To do this, once the household adopts Guev Cooker, it is served each month with green fuel pellets/briquettes made from agricultural residues, a high-performance solution substitutable for charcoal and firewood.

For productive units, the biggest concern is the acquisition of adequate equipment. It turns out that for example for a pasteurizer, the SME is obliged to place the order in China, which turns out to be too expensive together with transport. The after-sales service, not accompanying the equipment, the productive unit becomes inefficient and sometimes others give up. Whereas with Guev Equipment, the SME has a one-year warranty and after-sales service for one year as well. On the financial side, the cost of acquiring electricity or heating fuel would be nil. This is replaced only by agricultural residues from pre-processing.

I work daily to clean up the living environment of the peasant kitchen through ecological and economic modernization, in line with national and international policies for the promotion of renewable energy, the fight against deforestation, and the protection of natural heritage. world, and to promote truly sustainable development. Actor of the rural world and having had the chance to be educated in the midst of a purely peasant and illiterate population, my ambition has always been to revolutionize the daily lives of women in households with new solutions. As such, I am strongly involved by the Ministry of the Living Environment and Sustainable Development of my country in its activities, as a Researcher for appropriate measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change. As such, I was part of the Technology Transfer Commission and the Climate Change Effects Mitigation Commission of the said Ministry, which participated on behalf of Benin in COP 23, held in Bonn, Germany in 2017. In order to be able to develop this skill, acquired and developed experiences, I created in 2015 the Cabinet of Agricultural Expertise. The vision of this creation is to "Contribute to accelerating, through the production and commercialization of inclusive and green industrial technological innovations, the establishment of an economic development infrastructure with a low carbon footprint, with high potential for creating employment, and resilient to climate change”. The cause is that, across Africa, the labor force is growing faster than labor market opportunities, labor productivity is declining and unemployment rates are rising, especially among the youth. Living standards are falling so much that having a job no longer guarantees the ability to escape poverty and hunger. In addition, our ambition is to retrain trades professionals who are losing competitiveness, thus improving their income. Therefore, the future of work challenge that we choose to address is that of increasing income and creating jobs. It is our modest contribution to the achievement of SDG 8 relating to decent work and sustainable economic growth, in this case Targets 2, 4 and 6 through the achievement of SDG 7 that of promoting renewable energy at an affordable cost to the population. It is in this idea that Guev Cooker was created in 2016 by a scientific approach of research action and development. From manufacturing to marketing, our work strategy is based on both the principle of separate delegation and that of differentiation. Separate delegation is the option whereby each key component of the production and promotion process is entrusted to a specific actor forming an operational department. We have chosen to materialize this principle by a solidarity, collaborative and eco-responsible production model called “Green Value Chain”. This inclusive model involves Civil Society Organizations operating in the environment in raising awareness among consumers, citizens and politicians. The biofuel production component is the responsibility of six Environmental Defense Cooperatives (CODE) which are led by 600 women. The manufacture of GUEV cookers is entrusted to the Economic and Ecological Fireplaces Production Unit (UPFEE) divided into 5 technical workshops: welding, fitting, painting, electrical engineering and ceramics. The research, design and implementation of the production and marketing strategy is the responsibility of the Cabinet d'Expertise Agricole which coordinates all these departments.
Our evolution along this chain will be very advantageous for several reasons. The central nature of the need for food to which we provide a solution and its constantly increasing proportion within households in rural areas, the abundance of the primary resource (agricultural residue) in rural areas, the performance of our product and its value will certainly allow us to grow in size and market share over the next few years.

As a financial obstacle, the Cabinet d'Expertise Agricole does not have the financial resources necessary for the large-scale deployment of the technology at the national level. However at the regional and international level, Guev cooker is requested but still remains unsatisfied. As proof, we are obliged to take advances from certain customers before providing them with the technology and this is only possible at the national level. From a certain order, we are obliged to lend money to private companies at 25 to 35% interest rate before satisfying the market. For good reason, we do not yet have a bank guarantee, a factor limiting our access to bank financing.
The consequence of this financial deficiency leads to a technical imbalance in manufacturing. We do not have a considerable stock of raw materials, which causes the purchase price to vary in certain seasons. In some workshops, some working tools are still missing to perfect the competitiveness of our production. The technical analysis of the energy performance of the Guev Cooker validated by the Laboratory of Energy and Applied Mechanics of the University of Abomey Calavi established excellent fuel saving results of 40 to 70% compared to traditional techniques, i.e. an average 55% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cooking systems.
From a legal point of view, we are covered by several international conventions and treaties in terms of technology transfer regulations, from the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to the Paris Agreement. Specifically, in many low-carbon technologies in developing countries, Guev Cooker is at the heart of the MITIGATION sector on the measures envisaged and emissions avoided in the energy sector.

 
On the technical side, we are working to complete this year the acquisition of essential machines and the semi-industrial manufacturing facility of Guev Cooker.
So by applying for this challenge, we expect to benefit from technical support in order to perfect a good production policy. We also expect to have Expert mentors who will help us establish a good Guev Cooker marketing and business plan to facilitate the technology's scaling up. If we have the possibility, we will have to position ourselves on investment funds in order to make the company international. Here, in a few lines, are the reasons that motivate us to apply for a solve challenge.

This innovation is positioned as a catalyst for better management of wood fuels and through the alternative it offers to kerosene in the cooking and lighting processes of rural and peri-urban populations. Demonstrating the interest of exploiting locally available renewable energy sources through post-harvest processing of cereals, oilseeds and fruits, their potential impacts on environmental and ecological preservation gives GUEV a revolutionary technology. culinary and by extension the energy transition. It brings a certain added value in relation to the recovery of this waste which clutters the environment by releasing CO2 in the places of wild dumps.

The introduction of this technology, qualified as a more eco-responsible energy-cooking and energy-lighting tool, contributes directly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3-4-7-8-9-13). Guev cooker, through its sales growth, is already moving towards the creation of a regional market for the development of high-performance improved stoves. Its introduction in households or in productive units rationalizes the culinary process by eliminating certain stages of the tasks inherent in traditional cooking. With Guev Cooker, our ambition to contribute to the emergence in Africa of eco-responsible and carbon-neutral green cities as well as sustainable villages with a strong eco-cultural approach is well underway.

The impact objectives of the project are two-fold. Firstly, the elaboration of scientific evidence in terms of the economic valuation of domestic work and unpaid care work carried out by women and the impact of the introduction of improved cookstoves (Guev Cooker) on the rural households, women's income and well-being. These results will contribute to the release of the creative potential of women and positive effects on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the project will contribute to the implementation of the recommendations of the Paris Agreement on the development of technology transfer and especially of resilience in developing countries. The project will also contribute to establishing an international reputation for the Agricultural Expertise firm, a structure that promotes innovation in terms of action research and development.

To obtain this result, a project is underway funded by the International Research and Development Center (IDRC, https://www.idrc.ca/fr/projet/... -the-economic-empowerment-of-women-in-benin) entitled, Impacts of the introduction of Guev Cooker on the economic empowerment of women in Benin and prospects for implementation at scale. The general objective of this project is to “promote the large-scale adoption of more energy-efficient cooking technologies in Benin. This makes it possible to reduce the time allocated to this unpaid domestic activity while reducing the carbon footprint of households”.

The overarching impact outcome we are pursuing is our ambition to produce and sell from January 2023, 9,000 (nine thousand) Guev Cookers per year to accelerate environmental compliance monitoring and energy transition. To achieve this, we have developed with a technical partner PUM (https://www.pum.nl), the plan for achieving this ambition, which is to move from strengthening the technical capacities of employers, through improving the framework labor, acquisition of machines, inventory management and finally marketing.

That said, by the end of 2024, we will be able to have production annexes in three West African countries, namely Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. But in five years, that is to say towards the end of 2026, we will already have achieved industrial performance by already having an economic development infrastructure with a low carbon footprint, high potential for job creation, and resilience to climatic changes. To this end, approximately 4,400 jobs would be created but also would make it possible to retrain professionals from trades losing their competitiveness, thus improving their income. To do this, we have already started implementing this strategy by already ordering six serological metallurgy machines. The current profits from our sales are invested in strengthening the company's development capabilities. Everything we pursue by applying for this application, hope to benefit from the mentors who will assist us in sanitizing the business management plan, marketing policy and production infrastructure development strategies of Guev Cooker.

We used descriptive statistics to measure the progress of our activity. For example, for a period of 30 days, or a month, we try to compare the number of customers served between consecutive and months of previous years. By me, it is made an assessment of the quality of the products sold and the technological progress observed. Thus, for a defined period, we have the quality price ratio, then the quantity price ratio. These allow us to measure the performance of our equipment on the market.

At point 2, it is the quantity of fuel delivered. When our policy is to combat wood fuels, we evaluate each month the progress made in the demand and service of green fuels delivered to our customers. Between two consecutive months it is the difference between the X and the period (X-1) finally the quotient of the quantity delivered in the year Y on that delivered in the year (Y-1). The latter also allows us to measure the success of occupying our market share. On this technical data, four other impact indicators are measured. In terms of human resources, each year we measure the percentage of staff members of each workshop trained and the number of workshops delivered aimed at improving the relationship of their services.

For the analysis of the impact of the introduction of the improved cookstove “Guev

Cooker” on the time use of women in rural Benin

, this is the modern methods of impact evaluation generally referred to as randomized control trials (RCT) inspired by the work of Donald (1974) Abadie & Imbens (2006) and Duflo (2019) which is used. Since the causal effects cannot be measured for each unit i, at the scale of the sample of female beneficiaries, the "Average Treatment Effect", commonly denoted in English ATE (Wooldridge, 2002; Diagne and Demont, 2007) is the difference between the expected value of the outcome when women are exposed to the program (beneficiary of the Guev Cooker stove) and the expected value of the outcome when women are not

exposed to the program (not a beneficiary of the Guev Cooker household):

ATE = E (Yi1 - Yi0) = E (Yi1) – E (Yi0)

Faced with the harmful effects of climate change and in particular, the push of desertification by the abusive use of firewood followed by energy losses recorded at the level of open-air cookers, Guev Cooker provides an ideal solution.
For households or productive units that will always continue to use firewood, with Guev Cooker, they will see their energy wood consumption reduced by 60%. In the same vein, alternative solutions are always possible, either completely abandoning wood energy for green fuels, sawdust, rice husks, agricultural residues, pellets or briquettes.
Conclusion: (1) desertification can be pushed back by 60%, for example instead of having a desert in Africa in four years, the use of Guev Cooker can make it possible to go to ten years. (2) By taking the fuel option, all Guev Cooker users abandon wood energy in favor of alternative fuels and desertification ends automatically.
For the issue of energy loss, it is the energy efficiency of Guev Cooker that takes precedence on two levels. (4) more calorific heat loss thanks to the controlled position of the pots and (5) more fuel loss thanks to the control of the fire. The two stages of pyrolysis and combustion take place inside the same chamber with over 90% of the fire heat kept in the ceramic.
Conclusion: Save time, save money, save fuel. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

The core technology that powers Guev Cooker is digitalization. The technique consists in digitizing the cooking process in order to control the calorific effect and fell on the main international orientations. It is protected by the OAPI (African Intellectual Property Body) Patent No. 120 190 0031 of January 31, 2019, which sets us apart from our competitors. In its application, it is a science of the optimum which makes it possible to solve an equation of efficiency by acting on the existing. This therefore involves the power of boilermaking by acting on fire and air and then the material science of heat conservation. Digitization has come for the regulation of use. For the control of the use and the follow-up, it is the RFID system which will favor the remote control.

Guev Cooker is developed following the many difficulties of women in the kitchen. Gas is relatively expensive and not even available to serve the population. Electric current exists but at a low voltage. Conclusion it is necessary to find a method of the happy medium accessible and consumable by all and by all. Academic evidence is on the sites: http://www.chaireomccidi.org/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snRqnUAeBG0 , http://www.cres-sn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IDRC-COM- Final-doc-presse-1.pdf  , https://www.idrc.ca/en/news/six-new-projects-will-promote-women-empowerment-in-west-africa  , https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uwbzqWwSGs , facebook: agricultural expertise firm Le Zenith

Our team is divided into three parts. An administration that coordinates all administrative and technical activities. A technical team divided into five workshops mentioned above and a sales team that deals with promotion and marketing. The Agricultural Expertise Cabinet is domiciled in Benin, but has a communication and extension technique that makes it contract partnerships to cover geographical areas of interest. Digital communication is also an important part of its organizational infrastructure, hence its presence on social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and its e-commerce website. The superior academic training and professional experience of the initiator of the GUEV stoves, the flexibility of the governance model within the Firm, the availability and motivation of the technical workforce, the daily relevance and resurgence of the need to which GUEV brings solution, the African dynamic in favor of the promotion of youth entrepreneurship and the global dynamic of promotion of green initiatives are all reasons that position us to carry out our mission.

We provide households and productive units with Guev improved stoves to facilitate food cooking and post-harvest processing. To this end, our objective is to reach an average turnover of $690,000 by 2025. To do this, on a variable average unit cost of sale for Guev Cooker models of $101.5267, 94.27481 $, $82.67176, $72.51908 respectively 2500, 4500, 7500 and 9000 Guev Cooker will be sold for the years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Our business strategy is based on social media and physical marketing. On social networks, we boost our publications on facebook so that it reaches target customers. On the physical side, we have sales representatives for sales depots, traders and semi-wholesaler resellers. We have several payment methods at the convenience of the customer in order to be better satisfied. To this end, we leave the choice to customers to pay us by bank, either by Mobile money, or by credit card, by western union and others... On our return we provide after-sales service, i.e. a one-year warranty from the day of purchase. Every 30th of the month, a television show is organized to talk about Guev Cooker and during this show a 15-minute slot is left to allow for the identification of user testimonials. We also plan to go live in the coming days on facebook to allow the whole world to follow us in our achievements. Our method of investment in equipment is progressive according to the pace of evolution of the company. The diverse skills of each workshop manager allow us to stay on course on the market by always innovating the equipment sold. After 2025, we must achieve our financial autonomy and will be able to support other startups to grow. Thank you

For the moment the investments we have made are works of the fruits of our sales. We have received technical support from PUM for production control and market control strategies, but the necessary funding is not yet available. This is why we intend to open up to the world in order to have investors who can help us grow our facilities and, by extension, our market share. All things that motivate us for this application in order to benefit from the various mentoring sessions in order to reorganize our production and marketing strategies. In the medium and long term, we must increase the company – donor – investor levels.

Since 2017 Guev Cooker was created, we have continued to grow in experience and skills. Today scientific evidence is being studied at the OMC-CIDI Chair University as well as the increase in energy performance in production and at the customer level. The testimonials keep pouring in. Our determination and commitment are always driven towards success. From the idea stage, we came to realize the prototype. From the prototype, several modifications are made, until we have managed to find the balance that pleases more than one. Today we are multiplying the models of Guev Cooker until we have models for more than 5 productive post-harvest and household processing units. Our success is assured; all that remains is to climb the slope to achieve growth.