Social Entrepreneur Spotlight: Sylvester Chabuka

Tell us briefly what your organization does and how it makes an impact.

Clean Heat Solutions, is a renewable energy social enterprise that makes carbonized charcoal briquettes from bio waste. These briquettes are so unique in a sense that they are engineered to look like charcoal, perform like charcoal and cost less than charcoal in order to replace charcoal on the market which has greatly affected the countries forests. With an alternative cooking fuel, the pressure on the countries forest is minimized, as the demand for charcoal and wood based fuel is reduced. Beside producing and selling charcoal briquettes, we also train organizations, communities and individuals to make carbonized briquettes from waste. This ensures that we maximize our impact and increase usage and production of alternative cooking fuel other than charcoal by so doing we are reducing deforestation and conserving the environment

What inspired you to start your company?

While working in the district of Neno with a Youth Organization in a number of tree planting projects, I noticed that the more trees we planted, the more trees were cut down. This led me to the realization that the problem was not in Neno where trees are cut, but rather in Blantyre, where there is the market for the charcoal produced. I then thought of bringing an alternative cooking fuel to the market to replace charcoal. To achieve this I needed something that looks like charcoal, performs like charcoal, costs less and is made in a sustainable way. After sharing this idea at a SEED replicator workshop held on 5th September 2018 I was privileged to be introduced to carbonized charcoal briquettes concepts being done in Uganda. From there I utilized YOUTUBE videos and tutorials and eventually I managed to make charcoal looking like briquettes from waste. The passion to conserve the environment and reduce deforestation, inspired me to start this company.

How has Flame Tree Initiative helped you so far – both in the DELab and DEStudio?

When I attended the Flame Tree DELab training in 2019 at Malawi University of Science and Technology, I only had an idea with me. I wasn’t sure if it could even work. This training helped me to get the necessary tools and insights on how best I can develop a product and make sales. The training covered courses like Human-centered Design which were so insightful and fundamental to craft my product. Besides that during the training, I got honest feedback from the facilitators, FTI team, and my fellow participants which widened my knowledge and increased my zeal to pursue the dream.

After the training I immediately begun working on the idea, utilized the skills I got, began writing for grants and eventually managed to win the 2019 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Award worth 5,000 dollars. Still pursuing the passion, I got selected to participate in the 2019-2020 DEStudio program which has proven to be the best incubation program in my entrepreneurship journey. This program has kept me on my toes, and made me keep in line with goals set. From workshops, site visits, networking, publicity etc, I have really benefited from the program and hope to benefit more.

What advice would you give to other people who might want to become entrepreneurs?

Find a reason why you want to pursue what you want to pursue, and each time you feel like giving up, remind yourself why you started. This journey has never been smooth, it is not smooth, and will never be smooth, but those who persevere, get to their destination. The word “quit” should not exist in the dictionary of an entrepreneur. Be willing to pivot, learn from mistakes, seek knowledge, have mentors and keep good company. Sooner or later you will eventually get there.

So far, how many people have you impacted? How?

We have trained a total of 120 people in different organizations and communities on how to make carbonized briquettes from waste. These people now have skills on how they can make their own renewable cooking fuels rendering them resilient to energy (cooking) poverty which is widespread in the country. Besides offering these trainings, we have sold over 3000 kilograms of briquettes so far, hence increasing access to cooking fuels to over 30 households and saving over 12,000 tons of tree mass from being cut for charcoal production.

What are the biggest challenges you are facing as an entrepreneur?

The challenge has been coming up with a perfect product due to lack of high capacity pressing machine which is relatively expensive for us. The other challenge has been to woe customers to buy our product. We realized that our initial customer segment which is low income urban household, is not willing to pay for eco-friendly solutions and is less environmentally conscious. So we have had to change our target customer segment in order for us to sustain the enterprise.

What goals do you hope to accomplish in 2020?

In 2020 we would like to diversify our solutions in the energy industry. Malawi’s energy sector is so underdeveloped, leaving room for more innovations and solutions. In this year we plan to introduce solar kiosks, be distributors of solar lamps and appliances, and recycle dead car /solar batteries among others.

Anything else we should know about you or your team?

Sylvester Chabuka junior, is a 24 year old entrepreneur by passion and health specialist by profession. Sylvester holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health and Safety obtained from Central Christian University, where he now currently work as an associate lecturer. Together with his 4 colleagues and 2 advisors work tirelessly to provide renewable energy solutions in the city of Blantyre.

Our team believes in innovation, currently we are experimenting on how to carbonize saw dust, and plan to introduce smart energy saving cook stoves.