Swiss Partners
Rural African Ventures Investments RAVI, Bern,
www.farip.ch,
Ueli Scheuermeier, EPFL, CEMI, Prof. Dominique Foray
Project Type:
Technology:
Country:
Project Status:
Project Start:
End of Project:
Contract:
Documentation
Swiss Contribution
RAVI Ltd is a Swiss and British company which has been active in developing and coaching potential investment opportunities in rural East Africa for more than a decade. This pilot project will be monitored by the Chair of Economics and Management of Innovation of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
Description
CB Company Ltd. is a Tanzanian company based in Mafinga in Tanzania’s southern highlands. The company has requested Rural African Ventures Investments (RAVI) to support them in exploring how to make use of the widespread waste wood from forestry operations in the highlands. The Holzenergie Emmental Association has been identified to have the right type of technology for the Tanzanian context for chipping wood and transporting the chips to where they can be converted to energy. An initial large paper factory in the area will be the first major client for launching this venture. The pilot project aims at studying the concept’s technical, operational and economic viability.
The project will also be a case study for the Institute of Innovation Studies, EPFL-Lausanne which will monitor it.
The project’s long-term objective is to establish viable businesses for small rural entrepreneurs in providing first, process heat and later, hopefully also electricity from local waste wood remaining from timber operations in plantation forests.