Chebet Lesan

Chebet Lesan (born c. 1989) is a Kenyan entrepreneur who has received various awards by creating charcoal briquettes from waste material and then selling it on to a network of women. The resulting product creates affordable fuel in Kenya and avoids trees from being used and its smoke free burn gives health benefits. The awards include the Queen's Young Leader Award and a Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

Chebet Lesan
at World Trade Organization meeting in 2019
Born1989 (age 33–34)
Kenya
NationalityKenyan
EducationUniversity of Nairobi
OccupationBusinessperson
EmployerBrightGreen
Known forproducing charcoal briquettes from waste

Early life and education

Lesan was born in 1989[1] and she attended the University of Nairobi where she graduated in Industrial Design.[2]

Career

Lesan is a Mandela Washington Fellow. She says that she was inspired to her idea by seeing the loss of trees around Mount Kilimanjaro.[3] She decided that she could make charcoal briquettes from biomass. Waste can come from sawdust or discarded flour.[2] The waste material is carbonised and then the material, called char, is then pressed into briquettes with three different densities and heat output. The company she founded is called BrightGreen. Irrespective of their density they are sold by weight where they are targeted at normal consumers. Many consumers are living on $4 a day so the approximate charge of $0.55 per kilo is affordable.[4] In 2017 they had supplied 300 households in total with 100 tons of briquettes.[3] Demand is high as Kenya has used up 98% of their indigenous forest and this means that fuel for cooking can cost $25 for a 35 kg bag.[2]

Her invention was estimated to have saved 800 tons of trees in Kenya by the end of 2017.[3] Moreover, the briquettes burn with no smoke meaning that they are less harmful than the smoke filled hut she remembered her grandmother had to cook in.[4]

Lesan chooses to distribute her fuel via women entrepreneurs who sell on the product. In 2019 the company was moving into profit but funds from competing in business contests like the CartierWomen's Initiative were targeted at extending the company's distribution area further.[4]

Awards

References
  1. "Chebet Lesan, 28-year-old who produces charcoal briquettes - Evewoman". www.standardmedia.co.ke. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  2. "Chebet Lesan | MIT D-Lab". d-lab.mit.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  3. Garreth, Van Niekerk (6 December 2017). "Recycled Charcoal Briquette Saves 800+ Tons Of Kenyan Trees". Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  4. "Chebet Lesan". Cartier Women's Initiative. 2019-02-27. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  5. "Chebet Lesan | Queen's Young Leaders". Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  6. "Africa's Business Heroes". Africa's Business Heroes. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
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