World Environment Day: ASIF starts phase 2 of its investments in Ethiopia

Munich /Addis Ababa, June 5 2012 – African Briquet Factory, funded by the Germany based African Social investment fund GmbH, today announced the expansion of its activities in Ethiopia in conjunction with the World Environment Day. The Ethiopian-German joint venture just has started a testing program with NGOs to promote its wood gas stoves in combination with biomass briquets. Cooperating with local NGOs African Briquet Factory is making biomass briquets accessible to marginalized private households in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

African Briquet Factory was the first enterprise in Eastern Africa that received funding from ASIF in 2011, allowing the company to build a production site for briquets made from bio mass waste material resulting from coffee production, situated in close vicinity to large coffee factories. Today 20 employees are working on site to produce and distribute the biomass briquets. While selling initially to restaurants, bakeries, textile factories, tanneries and other small and medium business throughout in 2012, the management also started talks with NGOs in order to make the more environment-friendly and healthier alternatives for fire wood and charcoal accessible for those groups within the population who are living on very low income. A key prerequisite for that has been the development for a wood gas stove that is working at very high altitude in the Ethiopian highlands. This development has also been managed through African Briquet Factory, funded by ASIF.

“Approximately 400,000 house-holds in Addis Ababa are still cooking with charcoal and fire wood. The growing population urgently needs alternatives to these fuels, if one does not want to destroy the last forests,” said Gerd Ladstätter, General Manager of ASIF, who has been living in Ethiopia for several years. With the foundation of ASIF 2010 he intended to support small and medium enterprises in Ethiopia with impact investments, contributing to economic, ecologic and social improvements in the country.

About ASIF
ASIF GmbH offers investors with a motivation for impact investments the ideal framework to participate in start-ups in Eastern Africa. The African Social Investment Fund (ASIF) is a privately held company based in Munich, Germany. More information on the company and its portfolio can be found at www.afrisof.com.

Campaignery
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81543 Munich
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This release was published on openPR.