Solar Ovens

The ask

Manufacture and distribute low-cost parabolic solar cookers to rural Bangladesh households and Rohingya camp communities at Teknaf and Cox's Bazar, using a pay-as-you-save financing model that prices the product against firewood and biomass spending.

Why now

Bangladesh still has 60 % of households dependent on solid biomass for cooking — the leading cause of indoor air pollution deaths (40 000+ per year, IHME). Solar cooker manufacturing cost has fallen to USD 25–45 per unit for a parabolic cooker capable of boiling 2 litres in 20 minutes at 5 PSH irradiance. The Rohingya displacement crisis (1 million+ people in Cox's Bazar district) has generated massive international donor interest in sustainable camp cooking solutions — an active procurement pipeline that a local manufacturer can address.

Why Bangladesh

Cox's Bazar district gets 5.0–5.5 peak sun hours daily — among the highest in South Asia and well within solar cooker operating range for 8–10 months per year. A household spending ৳800–1 200/month on firewood or LPG can service a ৳1 500–2 500 cooker on a 12-month instalment — the cash-flow case is immediate. UNHCR, WFP, and BRAC already have last-mile distribution infrastructure in the camps; a local manufacturer slots into existing procurement channels without building a new distribution network.

As a business

Revenue from direct consumer sales (MFI-financed instalment) and bulk institutional sales to UNHCR/WFP for camp distribution. Gross margin on the cooker hardware is 35–55 %; financing revenue adds 15–25 % annual yield on the receivable book. A 5-year MFI partnership can fund ৳5 crore in receivables on ৳1 crore of equity. Carbon credits (Gold Standard cookstove methodology, ~1.5 tCO2 per stove per year) add ৳300–600/stove/year in supplemental revenue once the operation is audited.

Economics

Move the sliders to model your own solar cooker business. Defaults are order-of-magnitude estimates — pressure-testing them is part of what a founder pitches us.

What ZEPH would back

A founder with a working production prototype and a confirmed pilot order from UNHCR, WFP, or a large NGO like BRAC or Grameen Shakti. We want to see the humanitarian procurement channel proven before we fund scale manufacturing. Seed cheque to deliver the first 2 000-unit institutional order and establish the carbon-credit methodology.

Impact

Each solar cooker deployed to a biomass-dependent household avoids burning roughly 1 tonne of firewood or crop residue per year, saving approximately 1.5 tCO₂e and eliminating the household's contribution to the indoor air pollution that kills 40 000+ Bangladeshis annually. At 5 000 units sold per year, the programme avoids 7 500 tCO₂e annually — enough to qualify under Gold Standard's clean-cookstove methodology, which generates roughly USD 10–15 per tonne, adding a viable carbon-revenue stream. The business also displaces an estimated USD 150 000/year in imported LPG and kerosene across the active user base, retaining hard currency and reducing Bangladesh's dependence on fossil-fuel subsidies.