In this interview, the Managing Director, Kingsley Kanu shares their activities in the clean cookstove sector.
Can you give us a brief introduction about your organisation. What motivated you to start your organisation?
Our organization, Zagos services ltd started since 2009, then we were importing our products from South Africa till we developed a mini plant in Nigeria where we manufacture our gel locally in Ota, Ogun state. I was motivated into this green product when I was in South Africa and I believed that this could be beneficial to our nation, that’s how I met the company and together we agreed and brought the product down to Nigeria.
What does your company seek to achieve in Nigeria’s cooking energy market?
Climate change can seem like a remote problem for many, but the fact is that it’s already impacting real people, animals, and many beloved places. Thermosafe business revolves round the mitigation against climate change. Our business works towards ensuring greener communities and the world through Eco-Friendly products and services that are affordable and efficient. This is the reason why a business relationship with us is a long lasting benefit to our nation and the world at large.
Why should Nigerians switch over to ethanol for cooking?
Nigerians should switch to ethanol cooking stove because of its high safety measures, cooking and living in a healthy Environment and saving cost on health issues because carbon monoxide causes lot of ailment in human body.
What are the opportunities in the business environment that have supported your business over the years?
Many opportunities have been spotted over the years because we come to realize that our product is not only used for home but also for commercial activities in hotels and event planning.
How are your customers reacting to your products in the market – benefits of using your product?
The market has been overwhelmed with our product because it has brought them safety, cleanliness and most especially a good back up for their homes. we have encounter so many feed backs from parents, that ever since they have our product in their various homes, they can leave their children or house help to cooking at any time even when they are not around because our product is very safe for them.
Job creation and the empowerment of women seem to be increasingly important. How has your organization helped to drive employment generation and the empowerment of women?
We have tried our best in our own capacity in building lot of job creation for young women in our production facility; the women are in charge of packaging and supervising our daily activities because they are more reliable, respectful and accountable in the field. We have trained so many of them in software usage in stock keeping and raw materials management.
If you are asked to advise the Federal government of Nigeria on policy options, what are the three most important things the government can do to expand the market?
The government can be helpful in subsidizing our cleaning cooking stoves and gel, to help save our environment and mitigates climate change. They can help in funding the clean cook sector to enable more job creation, distribution and other humanitarian issues.
If an enabling environment is not created by government, what future risks do you envisage?
Our biggest challenge is the availability of stocks on our Gel stoves and the cost of lading it in Nigeria. The exchange is seriously affecting our services which we believe that if properly looked into by the government and come with a suitable policy in the clean cook sector, it would be very beneficial to the society because cooking has a lot of contribution in every living creature and no nation would develop without human capital and humans need to feed first before they can exercise in any form of work.
Where do you envisage your organization to be in the next 5 years in terms of production?
We need funding to enable us achieve things in this saving lives sector, clean cook is a big sector which can be triggered by good funding or collaboration with our government or international bodies, to achieve our projections.
What risk does your business face and what is your biggest challenge?
Clean cook sector in Nigeria needs awareness for the masses to have knowledge of what it’s all about, the values and benefits of clean cook and for the masses to embrace it. This can enable multiplier effect on demand, supply and distribution.
