When I arrived at New York’s Penn Station this morning for my daily commute to E+Co’s New Jersey office, Amtrak was experiencing signal problems accompanied by lengthy delays . My stride weakened as I made my way to NJ Transit, realizing that the slow down would likely seize these trains as well. I sighed with relief to discover that the Montclair line was fully operative and I would arrive at work in a timely fashion – a day like any day.
When I logged onto my e-mail, I received a message from Suraj Wahab, the entrepreneur behind Toyola Energy Ltd., an E+Co investee in Ghana who distributes fuel efficient cookstoves and solar products. Suraj had this to say:
Child in Ghana: Charcoal and firewood are the primary sources of fuel in many villages throughout the developing world, leading to rapid and severe deforestation.
“I have in the last three days been in Afram Plains,a fertile and highly forested part of Ghana that is being subjected to extreme environmental abuse in the form of rapid deforestation by charcoal producers who are cutting down the trees at a prodigious rate. It is an area ripe for introduction of energy saving technology and alternative energy options and we are going to focus on this district from the last quarter of this year onwards for the supply of both cook stoves and solar lighting products. I have interesting photos of this region and its characteristic extreme deprivation which I will forward to you soon.
I counted over 100 fully laden trucks carting unsustainably produced charcoal to Accra in a single day from this district where charcoaling is the main occupation. I travelled to Nigeria through Togo and Benin Republic recently and what I saw convinced me more than ever before of the need to replicate the Toyola model in these countries.”
Today is a day like any day but begins with Suraj’s words from the field, an incredible affirmation of E+Co’s work. Now – back to work – as I am reminded that we have much to do.
By Meredith Elliott, E+Co Strategic Partners Officer
dear sir
i see you have developed some investment on clean energy a cross the word,i would wish to know if you mean to invest in my country Algeria.
all the best!