-We will kick off our food logistic business, where we will be providing refrigerated trucks for food transportation.
-We will have 54 hubs across Nigeria at the end of 2020
-We will unveil ColdHubs 2.0 with the ability to store 10 tons of food with less energy
ColdHubs has become the go-to platform to store perishable produce since it was founded in 2015 by Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu.
Through its solar-powered cold rooms spread across the country, ColdHubs has helped farmers and traders increase their income by up to 50%, while also eliminating losses. In 2019, ColdHubs saved 20400 tons of food across Nigeria and beyond preventing food spoilage and helping save the climate. It has also provided employment for more than 20 women who work as our Hub Operators and marketers.
Techawk had an exclusive interview with ColdHubs. Excerpts
Can you tell us about ColdHubs?
ColdHubs is a 100% solar-powered walk-in cold rooms branded as “ColdHubs”, in markets and farm clusters. The Hubs are used by smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers, to store and preserve fresh fruits, vegetables, and other perishable foods 24/7, extending their shelf life from 2 days to 21 days.
With more food being saved, ColdHubs help farmers and traders increase their income by up to 50%, while also eliminating losses.ColdHubs is a greentech, using clean energy and eco-friendly coolants to preserve food for human beings, ensuring that we avoid the emission of a huge amount of carbon dioxide and other gasses that cause climate change.
Electricity is one of the biggest challenges farmers, marketers and businesses face in the agriculture supply chain. How is ColdHubs helping to tackle this challenge?
A walk-in cold storage facility as it implies means it can be built anywhere; be it in the market, farm, or produce aggregation centers where in most cases there is no power supply.
With a 100% solar-powered system, ColdHubs has reduced dependency on the unreliable power supply in Nigeria also ensuring that agricultural products like fruits and vegetables are kept fresh till they are ready to get to the final consumers.
Farmers and traders do not have to worry about the power to store their produce, ColdHubs work 24/7 irrespective of the weather condition.
Tell us about some of the projects you are currently working on?
So far we are expanding to the North East and by the end of 2020, we will be having about 54 hubs across the country, hoping to have more built-in 2021.
Another area we are working on is the improvement of our hubs. Right now we have ColdHubs 1.0 which has the ability to store 3 tons of food per day and very soon we will be unveiling our ColdHubs 2.0 with the ability to store 10 tons of food with less energy, compared to its size.
Considering the fact that many in the emerging world are middle class or low-income earners, how affordable is ColdHubs?
ColdHubs services are very affordable. We store in returnable crates and storage on each crate costs just N100 per day.
It is just like using N100 to preserve tomatoes worth N5,000 for a day. On a cost per impact analysis, you’ll agree with me that our services are the best anyone can get anywhere.
What is the marketing strategy to drive people to use ColdHubs and cut down food waste?
Education is key to what we are doing. Farmers and traders need a lot of post-harvest and food handling education for them to understand that using the services of a cold storage facility like ours can increase their income.
Making it affordable is another strategy and again having it at their doorstep is most important because they don’t need to transport their goods from the hubs to the markets, we are there with them in the market.
What is the adoption level of ColdHubs are you looking at in the next 3 to 5 years?
ColdHubs will be adopted beyond Nigeria. So far we have had inquiries from other African countries, even in Europe and in America.
We want ColdHubs to be a household name 3 to 5 years time, making sure we have enough hubs serving different markets across the country
If electricity or power eventually improves, do you think ColdHubs will still be relevant?
Yes, ColdHubs will be relevant. ColdHubs is on its own cloud and even when the need for the accessible food storage facility and unreliable power supply in Nigeria inspired our work, you still have to put the cost of running one with grid power.
Off-grid power will always be cheaper and as long as we keep offering premium services at a very cheap rate, ColdHubs will never go out of business, no matter the power situation in Nigeria.
Tell us about the reception of ColdHubs so far?
The reception has been amazing and like earlier stated, we have had inquiries from almost all continents of the world. In Nigeria, the fact that we have helped farmers and traders increase their incomes means we are becoming a necessity in their business, which is high acceptance.
How have you been able to fund Coldhubs and what are your expansion plans?
We have funded ColdHub primarily by raising equity, debt, and grant investments. In 2016 we raised an equity investment from Factor [e] Ventures – venture philanthropy that invests in early-stage energy enterprises.
In 2018, we received a debt investment from All On Energy Impact Investors, to pilot ColdHubs for fish storage in two Nigeria coastal communities.
The rest of the funds are grants we received from Microsoft, USAID, UKAID, Swiss Re Foundation, King Baudouin Foundation, the Government of Japan through International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)The World Food Programme, Global Cold Chain Alliance, and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
On expansion, as stated earlier, we are moving towards the northeast, with plans to have 54 ColdHubs across the country before the end of 2020. We have plans to move beyond Nigeria and also kick off our food logistic business, where we will be providing refrigerated trucks for food transportation.
