Cosmas Ochieng is trailblazing the renewable energy market in Kenya with novel ideas that are padding communities’ pockets as well as his own.
Ochieng is the co-founder of Eco Fuels Kenya, a startup that produces renewable energy and agricultural products from indigenous croton nuts, the product of croton trees found expansively across East Africa.
His work has won him praise worldwide. U.S. magazine Forbes named him one of Africa’s top entrepreneurs In 2012, Eco Fuels Kenya won GrowthHub’s Village Capital/GrowthAfrica Program and a U.S.$50,000 investment.
But Ochieng’s life hasn’t always been a whirl of award galas and over-size checks. In fact, his rise to founder is the stuff movies are made of. Ochieng grew up in a polygamous household in rural Homa Bay town in western Kenya. He set foot in Nairobi for the first time after high school and was the first one in his entire clan to get not just a university education, but a high school diploma.
He’s always had an entrepreneurial bent and spent school holidays fixing “black mamba” bicycles under a tree at markets. Ochieng graduated from Technical University in Nairobi and interned in two different food processing industries, where he discovered his niche in the production of consumable oils.
In 2009, he found himself in Naro Moru, a small town in central Kenya, working for Help self-help center (HSHC), a nonprofit that produces biodiesel from croton nuts.
Their model was simple: educate the community on the use of the nuts and the need to preserve croton trees, then pay those same community members to supply the nuts. It was a win-win situation: communities profited, and the company produced renewable energy.
In 2012, Ochieng felt it was time to set up his own business, Eco Fuels Kenya. Three years on, the startup not only produces biofuels, but also fertilizer that revitalizes the soil, briquettes (an alternate fuel source from croton nut husks), and poultry feed.
Ochieng shared the secret to his success and his goal for fulfillment with AkilahNet’s Rose Odengo. Excerpts follow.
No. I always imagined myself working under someone, operating other people’s plans. It has never gone to my head that I am a director somewhere — which is good because if it gets to your head, you become corruptible. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us.
What’s the secret to kicking off an agribusiness enterprise?
Start with what you can, no matter the level. I started by crushing croton nuts by hand, and it would take the whole day to crush a bag. It begins with what is in your mind, what is your vision, your aspiration.
There is a lot of money you cannot access when doing something for the first time. Begin with where you are. Talk to people who have done these things. Entrepreneurs are not mean with information, especially Kenyans; reach out to the best people, so you have role models also.
Why was it essential for you to involve the community in your business model?
The croton tree exists in the community; it is a community resource. They are entitled to benefit from the resources in their environment. This seed is a business; collecting croton seeds is a business. I also believe that solving people’s problems is solving God’s problems.
Was there a direct impact of that recognition, by Forbes, on your business?
Yes, there were a lot of invitations. We were called for talks, and it also led to funding from Africa Green Energy, Village Capital, Growth Hub, and GVEP (Global Village Energy Partnership).
What’s the one thing that once you accomplish, you will feel fulfilled?
If 50% of the Kenyan population where the croton trees are take up croton seed collection as a business, get a steady market for their seeds, and sustain themselves from seed sales, that will be it. Because not only does Eco Fuels Kenya expand, communities will thrive from the croton trees, which they too will preserve.