From Kisumu workshop to the well prepared grounds of Don Bosco Institute in Kakuma, Kenya, a solar oven and 3 cookers were well received, assembled and they boast fully lined up together with the previously installed oven ready to continue serving the local Don Bosco Institute.
To continue the wonderful work already started, we created a team of three being Joan Arwa, Hillary Miheso and Samuel Rodrigues to manage another successful training.
Sam and Hillary filling up the solar cooker radiator with water.
In Don Bosco Institute Kakuma, we trained a group of students from different fields (mechanical, carpentry, fitting and turning, accounting, masonry, electrical etc) who were driven to learn more and gain additional knowledge on how to assemble a whole solar fire machine and cooker in readiness to learn how to bake bread, buns, cookies, cakes and we also cooked different meals like beans, lentils, potatoes, and rice using the Lytefire’s solar cookers.
Trainees from Don Bosco Institute kakuma assembling the Lytefires.
Our first bakery sales were overwhelming and students and teachers were amazed by how delicious the solar buns,bread and cakes were.
Solar baked bread..
After 2 weeks of training we were ready to scale up our cooking to be able to serve not just 20 people but over 100 people! The word overjoyed is an understatement of how we, trainers, and the school administration felt about the scale up. There was confidence, anxiety, happiness, energy and anticipation.
In different days in the third week, with the help of Martha the school cook, we kept on scaling up the amount we could cook using the solar cookers and everyone loved the meals we served. With that, we managed to feed an overwhelming number of students and staff, being 70, 120 and 260 respectively. Each service was truly humbling to us since we managed to prepare upto 39 kg of rice and 10.4 kg of lentils.
Martha the school cook preparing lunch for the students and staff of Don Bosco Institute Kakuma.
By the last days of the 3rd week, the bakery received daily orders of buns not less than 100 pieces and occasional big cake orders of up to 100 pieces or 300 buns. With the guidance of demand of the solar bakery products we are confident we can sell upto a minimum of 500 buns, 106 cupcakes daily by using just one oven.
We are ending the year with a dream that became true (for us).
A few days ago we have launched the Lytefire Hub where all Lytefire’s users can gather, find resources, dedicated forums, tips and share positive energy.
DIY’ers building the Lytefire 4, Solarpreneurs using the artisan oven in Africa, Solarpreneurs using the Lytefire Deluxe made in France... all of them are contributing to a decentralized and democratic us of solar energy.
We have installed this week a first solar oven in Alagaya refugee’s camp in Sudan, where about 220 000 people are living.
The conditions of this project have been extremely challenging and it’s not fully completed yet but the good will and determination of all partners have allowed the solar baking to start with success this week with the Lytefire 5 solar oven.
Working in refugee camps is very difficult, it’s a world per se. Hopefully this seed will grow and be of great use to the beneficiaries to progressively start to run their solar bakery. We’ll see in the coming weeks.
I have been waiting for that moment since day 1 when I heard about the very first solar concentrator in Cuba in 2007. Relieving a bit the burden from vulnerable people is what makes we wake up every day, no matter what.
Thank you Lytefire team for all the courage, love and persistence. Thank you Rami and Sam, Plan International and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for the great opportunity.
Nous sommes très heureux de vous annoncer que le guide de construction de la Lytefire 4 est à présent disponible en français. Il a été revu et mis à jour.
Et très bientôt (dans 15 jours en fait), on ouvre (enfin) le forum qui va permettre à tous les bricoleurs.euses de se construire le leur.
A big big thank you to all those who have supported this campaign in one way or another.
This raised budget will allow to build the 2 Lytefire solar ovens in Kenya and refresh one existing one, to give one to Joan who lives nearby, to send one to Hashimu who is in Tanzania and another one to Allen in Uganda, in addition to some utensils and ingredients.
It’s a huge step for us because until now, in Africa, we we’ve only worked with NGOs and not directly with the entrepreneurs creating their slow tech companies and local bakeries, and it’s really great to finally be able to do this!
Joan, Hashimu, Allen, we know them well, we work with them for training and they understand 200% the Solar Fire vision with decentralized energy and which is so successfully illustrated in France with Neoloco. So, there you go, with this support, they will do the same, make themselves visible, inspire people.
And meanwhile, these Lytefire ovens are spreading in different sizes and for different needs in different contexts...
in France with entrepreneurs who have a more industrial version made in France to make bread or snacks,
with associations that go to schools or festivals to talk about solar bakery (cookies and pizza too),
with trainers in the self-construction of the small model,
with self-constructions of the oven that we guide remotely for small and medium-sized associations in the South,
with more and more local licensees manufacturers who will be able to market on their side,
with schools in Africa whose canteens are being equipped,
and with NGOs too of course.
And all these people, at the end of this month, will be able to discuss together on a forum that we have been dreaming about for a long time.
Like everything, it has been hard work, years and years of persistence, miles of life lessons, but it’s such a great journey!!
Thanks to the patient work of Arnaud, Elise, Benoist, Maxence and Loïc, three new French entrepreneurs decided to start using the Lytefire Deluxe manufactured in France to power their activity. They have been inspired by NeoLoco, Arnaud’s solar bakery, and by Lydiane and Manu, who have been the first to jump in and become "solarpreneurs" with Du Soleil et des Graines. Together in East France, Lydiane and Manu have now more than 50 retailers welcoming their solar roasted creations (see here).
L’Atelier Bélénos was created in Brittany, France, by Didier Ménard. "Bélénos" stands for the Gallic god of sun and health. The owner has a background of generalist engineer and is a former project manager in the cosmetics industry. Didier started the production around March 2022 and the marketing from mid-May. He solar makes cereal bars and roasted seeds for salads. He already has a dozen retailers.
Michel Mouillé is an environmental education trainer. He discovered the Lytefire thanks to NeoLoco and, as he was already offering courses and training focused on alternative cooking solutions with Idée d’en Faire, he was immediately interested. After several visits to the solar bakery, he decided to get his Lytefire Deluxe. He finds it "easy to use and quick to handle". He will soon start roasting his seeds and offer a local coffee. raise people’s awareness of the challenges of solar cooking. Below are some cool pictures of the pizza workshop he hosted for families in precarious situations and during the Low tech festival, l’Ouvre Boîtes (Can Opener).
Based in Normandy, in the Pays de Bray, Céline Puech launched Solé B’Rayon this summer. Céline has matured her project for a long time. With her Lytefire, she plans to create her own cereal bars as well as roasted seed mixes to replace crisps and peanuts for appetizers. She also created a nice ebook with healthy solar roasted seeds based recipes.
With the title of this post, I refer to Marie NDiaye’s book, Three Strong Women (2009), which is telling the story of three heroines between France and Senegal. It is proven: powerful stories and visions can change the world. Let’s only remember the Civil Rights movement in the US or the raise of women empowerment happening progressively since a few decades (2 generations ago, women couldn’t vote, remember?). For sure, it’s not enough. For sure, it’s not fast enough and we’re not enough people but there are, actually many, so many examples of real change in the past. This can give us courage in hard times.
Our followers know that with the Lytefire, the team is on a journey to mitigate deforestation and global warming consequences, as well as empower people with a simple, efficient and elegant solar solution. Lytefire requires no infrastructure, no renovation and no high tech to be implemented. And it relieves the burden of energy from many people’s shoulders around the world, especially women and especially in Africa.
Did you know that many women in African villages still have to go to chop wood and it takes them hours every day? On her way, the woman might meet with predators (humans or animals), break her back, then spend hours by the fireplace breathing dark particles to simply roast a few kg of peanuts to be sold on the local market. Provide these women with a Lytefire oven and all this is gone. And the deforestation slows down around the village.
Did you know that this year, our field team trained more than 200 young people in Uganda to become solar bakers and created themselves an income based on a fossil fuel free activity? Doesn’t this give a bit of hope?
Did you know that some people in France are ready for a change using that same tech to bake and roast delicious snacks? They save on energy and they experience a different relationship to work - following the sun, adapting to elements, experiencing the solidity of a locally produced solar tech very adapted to our times.
And on top of spreading Lytefire with pedagogical trainings, the team works on changing the storytelling and building bridges. That’s what’s needed to make this world a better place.
On this path, we are now joined by 2 strong women, and we’re so happy to welcome them.
Susanne Müller is an impact investor from Germany, in charge of MII GmbH. She is joining our board as a Director. After several years in public service (HZI, Fraunhofer ITEM), Susanne changed to the private sector. She has experience in the metal, wood and plastics processing industry in the areas of HR, occupational safety and most recently QM.
"Recently I became a happy impact investor. I’ve seen a lot and want to see a lot more. I believe in mutual success through cooperation!
When I saw the Lytefire for the first time in the showroom video, it was immediately clear to me that this is a simple, technical solution that could be used anywhere in the world.
This product holds the solution to a group of global issues that we need to tackle now! During my first conversations with the founders of SFCO, I was immediately carried away by the strength of their vision and their devotion.
During my visit to Kenya and Uganda in April this year, I was able to get to know most of the team. I got detailed insights into the production of the Lytefire stoves directly on site in Kenya, into the project work and into the training courses in Uganda, which impressed me very much. I was able to see by myself what entrepreneurial perspectives a Lytefire Bakery brings for the users. I have been able to taste their cookies and cakes. I could really feel the empowerment of the trainees, who are mostly women. Furthermore, I was deeply inspired by the team’s loving passion and enthusiasm for working towards the fulfillment of the mission.
It quickly became clear to me that I would be happy to support this company with all my skills beyond my role as an impact investor. With Solar Fire board, I’m willing to share my expertise in quality management based on my many years of experience in the various sectors of the manufacturing industry. I am delighted and honored to be part of the working board myself now, to support the mission with my strength and to drive the vision forward."
Elise Hauters is co-managing CPM Industries with her brother Benoist Panchout. The company was created in Normandy by their father in 1990. CPM Industries expertise, is mostly in the aeronautics sector. It is thanks to their high motivation that Lytefire Deluxe has been finalized last year and starts to be commercialized in France. Elise’s interest and commitment for impact is growing more and more at all level and she is initiating new projects to work on the transformation of her industry sector.
"It is my pleasure and also honor to accept this volunteer role of board advisor on topics on which I can shed some light. I find SFCO’s mission very meaningful for several reasons and first of all the Lytefire implemented in Africa (and I hope one day among other regions in need for it) is a tool that makes possible to solve major food problems related to global warming. But what moves me the most I think is the ability that this tech is providing to women to emancipate themselves, to empower themselves, to take the lead.
As a woman and a business leader, I experience how complex and heavy leading is, even in a Western and modern society. In addition, I have the absolute conviction that the industry must be able to put its capacity and skills at the service of social and environmental justice. We must be creative in the way we carry out our projects, in general.
My institutional missions on this topic allow me to confront on one hand the economic issues , which guide the actions of the major players in my territory in France, with the issues that I personally consider to be a priority. And if this can help Lytefire team, in one way or another, I am happy to dedicate time to share my expertise and past learning’s."
in France with entrepreneurs who have a more industrial version made in France to make bread or snacks,
