Each morning in Nigeria’s sprawling open-air markets, merchants like Sadisu Sani race the solar to promote crates of contemporary tomatoes, peppers, and greens earlier than the day’s warmth spoils them. By midday, beneath a blazing solar, costs drop by half. By night, what isn’t offered is usually tossed apart, and so is any likelihood at revenue.
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is aware of this story too nicely. He grew up on a small farm in rural Imo State, in Nigeria’s agricultural heartland. He watched his father and neighbours put in months of backbreaking labour, just for their harvests to rot for lack of chilly storage.
He spent years working with farmers by way of the Small Holders Basis, coaching them in higher farming practices, however good seeds and good data alone couldn’t beat the warmth. And not using a option to maintain contemporary produce cool, the loss was baked into the system.
Nigeria’s post-harvest waste is staggering. The nation loses as much as 40% of its meals, price round $9 billion yearly. Practically 93 million smallholder farmers lose a mean of 1 / 4 of their revenue as a result of they merely can’t retailer what they develop. For a rustic the place 88 million folks face meals insecurity, it is a disaster hiding in plain sight.
In 2015, Ikegwuonu determined to sort out the issue at its supply. He based ColdHubs: modular, solar-powered chilly rooms that carry dependable chilly storage on to the farm gate or native market. Every hub is concerning the dimension of a transport container however works like a walk-in fridge, powered completely by the identical solar that ripens Nigeria’s fruit and veggies.
ColdHub’s Hub and Spoke Mannequin
A single ColdHub can maintain produce contemporary for as much as 21 days, in comparison with only a day or two with out cooling. For merchants and farmers who as soon as offered in a panic or threw away spoiled items, this straightforward resolution adjustments every thing.
ColdHubs operates on a pay-as-you-store mannequin: farmers or merchants pay round N200 per crate per day, nearly 25 cents, to safe their items till the precise purchaser or worth comes alongside.
It’s inexpensive, accessible, and constructed for the realities of Nigeria’s casual markets. There’s no upfront funding in costly gear or diesel mills. The solar powers the hub by day; saved battery energy retains it chilly by night time.
Enterprise Growth and Influence
Since launching in Owerri in 2015, ColdHubs has grown from simply three hubs to over 54 in 22 Nigerian states, serving greater than 5,000 farmers, merchants, and wholesalers every single day. In 2021 alone, these hubs saved over 50,000 tonnes of meals from ending up within the trash heap, meals that feeds households, grows rural incomes, and reduces the nation’s carbon footprint.
And the affect is larger than chilly storage. Every hub creates jobs, and over 60 girls now run hubs throughout Nigeria, like Esther Uwakwe at Aid Market. She is aware of each dealer’s identify and produce. She logs each crate and checks IDs earlier than handing it over; belief and traceability are as essential as know-how in constructing confidence amongst merchants who usually function in cash-only programs.
ColdHubs hasn’t stopped innovating. With assist from funders like USAID, the Swiss RE Basis, and the Authorities of Japan, the corporate is rolling out solar-powered freezer hubs for fishing communities within the Niger Delta, the place tonnes of contemporary fish are misplaced every day for lack of ice. They’ve additionally launched refrigerated vehicles to maneuver cooled items from distant farm gates to city markets, bridging one other weak hyperlink in Nigeria’s fragile provide chain.
The corporate’s know-how isn’t static both. Utilizing sensors and distant monitoring, every ColdHub transmits stay knowledge on temperature, power use, and door openings again to a central operations crew. This Web of Issues strategy means small groups can keep dozens of hubs, decreasing downtime and spoilage.
The native financial affect is evident: farmers who as soon as misplaced 30% of their harvest now promote all of it. Merchants who as soon as earned simply sufficient to restock can now save, pay faculty charges, and develop their stalls. Whole households are lifted by the straightforward assure that their exhausting work gained’t be wasted in a single day.
This affect ripples out. Nigeria’s agriculture sector employs over 35% of the nation’s workforce, and 90% of rural livelihoods depend upon it. When meals stays contemporary longer, communities have extra to promote, transporters have extra to maneuver, and native companies have extra to purchase. It’s a chilly chain that warms the native financial system.
Discount in Greenhouse Fuel Emissions
ColdHubs can be tackling local weather change at an area stage. Standard diesel-powered chilly storage burns by way of 20–30 litres of diesel per day, spewing carbon emissions. ColdHubs’ photo voltaic items as an alternative save over 1 million kilogrammes of CO₂ every year. With meals waste accounting for 10% of worldwide greenhouse gasoline emissions, it is a local weather resolution disguised as a marketing strategy.
The Highway Forward and Worldwide Growth Goals
Trying forward, Ikegwuonu’s sights are set past Nigeria’s borders. ColdHubs has mapped alternatives to develop into Benin, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, and Cameroon, nations going through comparable meals loss challenges.
To satisfy rising demand, they’re diversifying, including bigger 100-tonne walk-in items for giant farm cooperatives, piloting solar-powered ice manufacturing, and growing AI and IoT integrations to optimise power use and predict upkeep wants.
For Ikegwuonu, the mission is rooted in self-reliance: “We use the solar that makes our crops develop to maintain them contemporary. We rent native folks to run the hubs. And we work with farmers to maintain worth in our communities.”
One crate at a time, ColdHubs is exhibiting how African options can clear up African issues, and even export these options to the world.
