Charlot Magayi, founder of Mukuru Clean Stoves, has been dubbed the "Queen of Africa" by Prince William for her innovative design of clean cookstoves made from recycled materials. Her initiative, which won the Earthshot Prize in 2022, enables thousands of Kenyan households to reduce pollution generated by traditional cooking methods by up to 90 %.
Magayi's story is a true example of self-improvement: orphaned at ten, a teenage mother at sixteen and a direct witness to her daughter's burns from a charcoal cooker. In 2017, she decided to start her business in Mukuru, one of Nairobi's largest slums, and developed an affordable - around $10 - and safer model that has already improved the health of more than two million people while reducing household fuel costs.
Thanks to the visibility gained from the Earthshot Prize and the backing of its partner platform, which connects entrepreneurs with investors, Magayi has been able to scale her project. With more than 425,000 cookers distributed to date, the Kenyan entrepreneur is now working on an even cleaner version that will run on ethanol, with the ambition of reaching ten million families across the African continent in the next decade.
Source: mukurustoves.org; thetimes.co.uk: @africabusinessheroes