Bloomfield, NJ - June 17, 2011
The winners of the 2011 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy were announced last night in London. Each year, the awards ceremony offers significant press coverage, recognition and a financial award to the most innovative and impactful clean energy efforts in the developing world.
E+Co investee, Toyola Energy Ltd., was awarded the Gold Ashden Award for their exceptional performance in the field of sustainable energy. The Gold Award is among the highest honors in the clean energy sector in developing nations. This recognition includes �40,000 in prize monies to contribute to Toyola's continued work pioneering innovative technologies and business models that mitigate climate change and provide green energy to local communities West Africa. Toyola Energy is the 5th E+Co investee to receive this award.
Toyola Energy Ltd. manufactures and sells energy efficient cookstoves in rural, peri-urban and urban communities in Ghana. E+Co's Carbon Finance Manager, Erik Wurster, writes in his blog on their receipt of this award: "Toyola is one of the most pioneering and interesting companies in which E+Co has invested, so it's no surprise that they should receive this honor. Their use of microfinance and an innovative, decentralized manufacturing model has enabled both operational efficiency and broad market appeal for their products, even among the poorest, rural customers." Suraj Wahab's creativity, entrepreneurial skill, business acumen and persistence in manufacturing, marketing and distributing a highly efficient and usable stove laid the foundation for Toyola's success. To date, Toyola has served over 940,000 people, displaced more than 6.2 million liters of kerosene and reduced charcoal use by about 26,000 tons per year.
The award also validates a model that E+Co helped to pioneer in which carbon finance acts as a cornerstone of a financial relationship with a small business in the developing world. As a result of the carbon finance project E+Co and Toyola developed, over 125,000 tons of C02 equivalent will have been monetized by July, 2011. Carbon credits are sold to
Goldman Sachs, the revenues from which repay Toyola's loan. Excess revenues are reinvested in Toyola, enabling the company to sell stoves more widely and cheaply to poor, rural customers.
Toyola's Managing Director, Suraj Wahab, accepted the award in London and was personally congratulated by the Prince of Wales, who is a Patron of the Ashden Awards. The Prince of Wales said, "The Ashden Awards show what it is possible to do now in saving resources and cutting emissions. They remind us how, as individuals, we can make a huge difference to the world in which we live. In a nutshell, they remind us that acting locally is, in fact, acting globally."
In addition to Toyola's Gold Award, four international winners including Abellon Clean Energy Ltd., The Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Husk Power Systems, and ToughStuff International, each received �20,000. AJDR Cooperative, Nuru East Africa Ltd., and Ugastove Ltd. were named runner-ups were, receiving a total of �6,000 in cash prizes.
To learn more about Toyola Energy Ltd., watch the Ashden Awards video here.
