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Years of public investment, policy reforms and private capital are transforming electric cooking from a donor-backed initiative into a growing consumer market across Africa. Manufacturers, retailers and clean energy companies are expanding production and distribution as demand for modern cooking appliances rises.
Bonface Orucho, bird story agency
Africa’s electric cooking sector is entering a commercial phase as years of public investment, policy reforms and private capital begin translating into growing consumer demand for modern cooking appliances.
Trade, manufacturing and investment data increasingly point to companies expanding production and distribution as electric cooking moves beyond donor-supported programmes into mainstream consumer markets.
Simon Okola, founder of Agenda Beyond Borders, argues the next phase will depend less on the volume of investment and more on whether it creates viable consumer markets.
“Finance must therefore do more than purchase appliances. It must create markets that continue operating after grants and concessional facilities have ended,” he wrote in a July analysis.
Recent data by the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights that since the 2024 Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa mobilised US$2.2 billion in public and private commitments, governments have introduced more than 120 new clean cooking policies across the continent.
Ahead of the rescheduled 2026 second summit, partners announced a further US$900 million in new commitments, bringing additional capital into the sector.
“Clean cooking in Africa is a transformative economic frontier with the power to reshape livelihoods, markets, and futures across the continent,” according to African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Lerato Mataboge.
IEA import data shows electric cooking appliances from China into Africa rose by 60% between 2020 and 2024, while the value of imports increased by a further 20% in 2025 even as average appliance prices declined by 5%.
Investment is following the same trajectory. The IEA estimates spending on Africa’s clean cooking sector increased from US$590 million in 2020 to US$770 million in 2024, with around 60% directed towards household equipment such as cookstoves and cylinders.
About 70% of financing now comes from private capital and consumer spending rather than development finance.
A separate analysis by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reinforces the same trend.
The agency estimates public development finance linked to clean cooking may have reached as much as US$2.8 billion across the world’s 100 largest access-deficit countries between 2022 and 2024.
IRENA’s 2026 report, Tracking Financial Support Across 100 Clean Cooking Access-Deficit Countries, also found that verified government investment reached at least US$400 million across 32 countries, with national budgets accounting for roughly two-thirds of that financing. The agency projects debt from public and private investors could account for more than half of clean cooking finance by 2040.
Manufacturers, distributors and consumer finance companies are increasingly driving the market rather than pilot projects alone.
According to the IEA, around 20 major cookstove manufacturing facilities are now operating across Africa, most commissioned since 2020.
One of the largest vehicles for translating investment into commercial markets is the Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA), which is supporting clean cooking businesses across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Its portfolio now includes about 20 projects spanning electric cooking, biogas, pellet fuels and institutional cooking technologies, with participating companies expected to deliver hundreds of thousands of new clean cooking services over the coming years, according to its website.
Across the continent, manufacturers are scaling alongside that financing. Kenyan company BURN Manufacturing is expanding production of electric pressure cookers, biomass stoves and LPG appliances from its solar-powered factory while extending assembly operations into Nigeria and other African markets.
Through separate MCFA agreements across five countries, the company plans to establish up to 456,000 clean cooking services, reaching an estimated 2.28 million people by combining local manufacturing with results-based financing and pay-as-you-go consumer models.
Kenya’s SCODE Limited is also pursuing a similar commercial strategy. Supported by approximately €500,400 (more than US$570 thousand) from MCFA, the company plans to distribute up to 96,400 electric pressure cookers by 2029.
“The MCFA support will enable us to scale up the distribution and sales of highly energy-efficient, digitised electric pressure cookers across the Kenyan market and deliver an inclusive e-cooking experience to Kenyan households,” according to SCODE Chief Executive John Maina.
Commercial opportunities are also expanding. Kenya-based Ecobora is manufacturing electric cooking systems for schools and hospitals while integrating smart monitoring and carbon accounting technology.
Ecobora recently, in April 2026, secured US$750,000 in support from the UK-funded Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme and CLASP to strengthen product development and expand deployment across East Africa.
Institutional cooking is emerging as another sizeable commercial market. Kenya’s Clean Cooking Sector Investment Pack estimates that transitioning the country’s schools, hospitals and prisons to modern cooking technologies represents a KES77 billion (US$589 million) investment opportunity.
Schools alone consume approximately one million tonnes of firewood each year at a cost of around KES6 billion, while companies including IGNIS Innovations, Feion Green Ventures and BURN have demonstrated technologies capable of cutting fuel costs by 60-70% and significantly reducing payback periods.
The commercial ecosystem is expanding across the continent.
In Tanzania, UpEnergy plans to deploy more than 123,000 electric pressure cookers under MCFA support, while Hanny G Investment is supplying institutional cooking systems to schools and colleges.
Zambia’s portfolio includes electric cooking companies such as UpEnergy, Sun King and EcoSafi alongside pellet producer Ener-G-Africa and biodigester projects led by ENGIE Energy Access.
In Zimbabwe, Lanforce Energy and Powerlive are scaling biogas and pellet-based cooking solutions, while Mozambique is expanding electric cooking, biomass and biodigester projects through companies including BURN, ENGIE Energy Access and Pamoja Moçambique.
Market expansion is increasingly reflected in household access. According to the IEA, the pace of clean cooking delivery across the continent is now three times higher than in 2010.
Preliminary estimates suggest around 15 million people gained access in 2025, about 35% above the average annual gains recorded over the previous five years, with Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Nigeria posting some of the greatest improvements.
Policy reforms continue to underpin the commercial expansion. The IEA reports that all 12 African governments that pledged reforms at the 2024 Paris Summit have implemented at least one clean cooking policy, while more than 20 additional countries have introduced new measures.
Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe now have some of the continent’s broadest clean cooking policy frameworks, while Ethiopia launched a National Clean Cooking Roadmap in 2025 and Tanzania is implementing a strategy targeting 80% access by 2034.
By May 2026, nearly US$740 million of the original US$2.2 billion pledged at the Paris summit had been disbursed across almost 30 African countries, with Kenya receiving 19% of the funding, followed by Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa at 7% each.
Electric cooking is also becoming more closely linked to electrification strategies.
“By integrating electric cooking into national electrification efforts and using schools as a catalyst, countries can accelerate community-wide adoption of clean cooking while maximising the social, economic and climate benefits of expanding electricity access,” Sustainable Energy for All Chief Executive Damilola Ogunbiyi told Mongabay.
According to the IEA, achieving universal access to clean cooking across Africa will require about US$37 billion in cumulative investment by 2040.
The agency estimates that reaching that target would prevent 4.7 million premature deaths, create around 460,000 permanent jobs across fuel distribution, retail and equipment maintenance, and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 540 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
bird story agency
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