Entrepreneurs working in Nigeria’s clean cookstoves sector received innovative training at a workshop designed to help them better attract funding and improve their businesses. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) and the Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) housed at Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship in partnership with the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and support from Shell Nigeria hosted a program called “Boost” on Monday and Tuesday, October 19-20, 2015. The program designed specifically for early-stage social entrepreneurs helped to prepare clean cookstoves businesses in Nigeria to apply for grants, investments, awards, and develop their capacity.
Entrepreneurs worked through a series of “learning by doing” modules that enabled them to learn concepts while they developed business plan elements specific to their social enterprise. For entrepreneurs in the program, outcomes included higher quality applications to incubators, accelerators, challenges and potential funders as well as identification of gaps in their business model.
The Boost Program is a two day in-person workshop with modules on social impact model, target market and value proposition, marketing, sales and partnerships, financial model, and growth strategy. At the end of the workshop every social entrepreneur presented an executive summary they created using the output of all of the exercises. They were given feedback to enable them to strengthen it and use as their “elevator pitch” to investors and on applications. Using the materials developed by the entrepreneurs, they would be able to access other grant funding and investment opportunities.
About 15 early stage cookstoves/fuel enterprises that have been in operation for at least 1 year attended the workshop in Abuja. Two participants from each enterprises, the founder/CEO along with the Chief Finance Officer or Accountant represented an enterprise. These enterprises will be adequately followed-up for a period of 3 months with assignments.
Christine K., Chair, Steering Committee of the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and Country Director, Heinrich Boell Foundation in her welcome remark stated that “the 2-day training will boost the capacity of entrepreneurs and invariably improve the clean cookstoves market in Nigeria”.
In his remark, Ewah Eleri, Executive Director of International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development and National Coordinator, Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves stated that “this boost training is very important as the government alone cannot grow the clean cookstoves market. He further stated that lessons learnt from the 2-days boost programme will help build clean cookstoves enterprises create a vibrant market for clean cookstoves in the country “.
According to Anathan Krishnan, Senior Associate, International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development during his opening remark noted that he hopes that after the boost program, entrepreneurs will be armed with creative ideas that will transform the clean cookstoves market. He further noted that consumers are the main boss; they decide where to put their money. He hopes that lessons from the training will help participants develop creative business ideas and good business plans that will make consumers put their money into their cookstoves businesses and thus transform the market.

Click on link to view BOOST Workshop Pictures