International Projects
We believe that people of any economic status should have access to beautifully designed cooking products that will improve their health, income, and environment. Since we started in April of 2011, we’ve sold over 70,000 cookstoves!
Our Customers
EcoZoom works with NGOs, governments, aid organizations and local businesses and entrepreneurs who want to put stoves into the hands of people who need them. We group our customers to three segments depending on what type of project they are implementing.
Commercial: Cookstoves can sell for a profit throughout a sustainable value chain, creating recurring revenue opportunities for manufacturers and distributors. In this market end consumers purchase a cookstove outright, or will purchase a cookstove with end-user financing. This market may or may not use carbon financing, but does not depend on carbon financing.
Development: Cookstove markets are just getting started in many areas and must be fostered to grow into a commercial market. The value of a cookstove to a family is not well known, price elasticity of demand is quite small, and we compete for end user purchases with mobile phones or other technologies. Cookstove samples, and subsidized stoves, can help generate a thriving cookstove market. In some cases, stove donations or subsidies can break the poverty trap of spending a high amount of time or income on fuel, and demonstrate the value that an improved cookstove has to health and prosperity.
Relief: There are millions of people living in abject poverty and in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps. Relief organizations target these end users to provide relief in extreme settings and to break the poverty trap. Relief organizations also recognize the strain IDP camps put on local natural resources. Once wood is gone, desertification occurs and fuel is trucked in. Health impacts are also exacerbated with concentrated smoke and emissions.
Project Stages
Depending on where the project is and how developed the market is, a cookstove project will go through some or all of the following stages with lessons from the previous stage being integrated into the next.
Pilot: first stoves arrive in the project area to test user acceptance.
Proof of Concept: product modifications have been made (if needed), a larger quantity is brought in the further test product acceptance as well as training materials, distribution strategies, and other project aspects (project specific).
Growth: product and project systems are full vetted, a container of stoves (approx. 2,000) or more are brought into the market.
Maturity: project has successful delivered thousands of stoves and continues to reorder and expand their efforts.
After Sales Services
Besides stoves, we provide support, program development advice, third party testing results, end user training materials, advice on shipping and navigating customs, connecting people in country, and a host of other logistics. We view our customers as partners and want to work hand in hand with them to have successful projects.
EcoZoom stoves are now accepted and used by cooks in 34 countries on six continents. Now that we know they’re a hit, we’re looking to get big traction in our 14 target countries (contact us for more details).
