GreenBox
- Congo, Rep.
- For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1.3 billion tonnes of food are lost or wasted worldwide every year. As a result, developed and developing countries lose around $990 billion, enough to feed around 124 million hungry people in 51 countries (World Food Report, 2018).
In Africa, post-harvest tomato losses range from 20 to 30%. More importantly, the carbon footprint of food waste is estimated at 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year due to agricultural waste.
In Nkouo, a farming community in Congo, tomato farmers lose 5,300 tonnes of produce each year. As a result, current post-harvest losses pose a threat to the population in terms of food and financial stability. Smallholder farmers find it difficult to sell their excess produce to the market and do not have sustainable storage facilities, leading to crop decay/rot. Thus contributing to food waste. We can conclude that post-harvest losses pose a threat to food security as well as environmental protection that affects most farming communities in Africa and around the world.
Our solution is a cold room preservation technology including solar panels, sensors, condensing unit and evaporator with a temperature of 5 to 10 degrees Celsius. This cooling technology will extend the shelf life of tomatoes and other perishable crops up to 21 days under appropriate regulated temperature.
The unit is a rectangular prism with a storage capacity of one hundred 25 kg crates of tomatoes. The cold storage unit will run on solar panels during the day. The energy stored in the battery during the day will be used for nighttime cooling.
For farmer education, we partner with other organizations such as Agri resources Congo to develop educational and awareness programs on sustainable agricultural practices.
As for connecting farmers to markets, we have help from an organization called Mvutu. But our long-term goal is to develop a digital marketplace for farmers so they can connect directly with buyers, removing middlemen from the equation who eat up part of farmers' profits. Currently, this part of the solution is still in the ideation stage.
We started stocking tomatoes, which account for up to 38% of the total national vegetable expenditure, and more than 500 farmers showed interest in our service.
Our solution helps farmers extend the shelf life of their products up to five times longer than their normal shelf life at room temperature, helping them reduce losses by 50%.
While farmers only pay US$25 for an entire three-week period, I am very proud to let you know that our solution helps farmers save over US$98 on each 100kg crate, which otherwise would have been lost after harvest. losses.
Our target population is the Congo tomato growing community known as Nkouo. We will work with NKOUO as the first pilot community. It was once known to be the major tomato producing community in Ghana and is now facing huge losses due to excessive crop deterioration. The community is home to about 7,000 farmers and they lose $1 million seasonally.
Our solution will help reduce post-harvest losses in the community of Nkouo, Congo by 50% over the next two years and increase farmers' total seasonal income by over $1 million with at least two harvesting facilities. harvest. community storage.
During our field visits to Nkouo, we received a lot of positive feedback. Farmers are excited about the prospects of our solution and the community believes it will bring a net benefit to Nkouo. The chief and some community leaders believe in the project so much that they offered us land to accommodate our storage units.
GreenBox is based in Congo and our comprehensive team of energy, data science, hardware, software and business experts serve clients around the world. We reinvest the majority of our profits to continue our mission. Having experienced the impact of these changes first-hand, the GreenBox™ team came together to address pressing food and energy challenges with its unique combination of skills. We firmly believe that a smarter, cleaner and cheaper food and energy system for small, marginalized farmers is essential to enable societal and planetary resilience. We are a team of software engineers, data scientists, economists and operators with extensive experience. We value risk-taking in the service of radical scale, attentive listening and a tireless commitment to understanding our customers and their needs.
Divin KOUEBATOUKA was increasingly struck by the obvious consequences of climate change and ecological disruption in Congo. Concerned about the world that we leave to the children in his care, he has made the preservation of the environment his main fight. It focuses on actions proposed for the creation of socially and environmentally responsible businesses. Its approach focuses on creating jobs, improving people's lives and developing projects based on green technologies. As a dynamic leader passionate about building high-performing teams, he has spent his career driving innovation and growth across diverse industries. His enthusiasm led him to the green technology sector for environmental preservation and adaptation, AgriTech, fintech and on-demand delivery, where the power of reliable systems, passionate leadership and data-driven approach results in the creation of a business that delivers high performance. performance, quality products and on demand for thousands of customers.
- Enable a low-carbon and nutritious global food system, across large and small-scale producers plus supply chains that reduce food loss.
- 1. No Poverty
- 2. Zero Hunger
- 3. Good Health and Well-Being
- 5. Gender Equality
- 7. Affordable and Clean Energy
- 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- 10. Reduced Inequalities
- 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
- 12. Responsible Consumption and Production
- 13. Climate Action
- 17. Partnerships for the Goals
- Pilot
We have completed product development and design and are currently testing our product.
GreenBox has installed and currently operates 5 community solar cold rooms in key markets, producing aggregation centers and agricultural clusters in the northern and southern regions of Congo. These 2 GreenBoxes are used by 517 small farmers, retailers and wholesalers.
GreenBox saved 20,400 tonnes of food from spoilage in 2023 for 517 farmers, retailers and wholesalers, using the 2 hubs installed and operational.
It increased the household income of 517 small farmers, retailers and wholesalers from USD 60 per month to USD 120 per month by eliminating the previous 50% of food, which was unsold or thrown away, this 50% is now stored and sold.
Get real-time web and mobile access to our cold storage management system through our app, GreenBox also provides real-time tracking and monitoring of goods with integrated IoT cloud technology.
With our solution, we reduce greenhouse gas emissions by preventing food waste, helping local farmers escape poverty and creating jobs for women in the community.
We face a hurdle in some parts of the country, particularly in agricultural communities, due to a lack of reliable electricity.
Cooling is the most effective technique to limit the rate of deterioration, setting up cold storage systems in rural communities is more difficult because most of these settlements are still not connected to the grid. To help achieve 100% energy access and ensure inclusive food systems, we made the decision to leverage our cold room technology powered entirely by solar energy. However, the costs involved in deploying 100% solar cold rooms are very high and require high upfront costs to set them up. Obtaining financing opportunities, particularly in Congo, has been a challenge.
Another problem is that most small farmers are reluctant to adopt new technologies. During community entry, when we scale and introduce our solution to a new location, it is normally difficult to get grassroots farmers to accept and quickly adapt to our new technology.
- Business Model (e.g. product-market fit, strategy & development)
- Financial (e.g. accounting practices, pitching to investors)
- Legal or Regulatory Matters
- Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact)
- Public Relations (e.g. branding/marketing strategy, social and global media)
- Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design)

Managing Director