About us
About Us
Potential Energy is an NGO based out of Kampala, Uganda, that endeavors to protect the environment and improve the lives of refugees, displaced people, and others in developing countries, through the promotion of cleaner burning, more efficient cookstoves.
85% of our stoves sold to date have benefitted refugees or displaced people in Uganda and Sudan. Of those, 2/3 were sold directly to the end users, showing how valued these products are, even among people with very little disposable income.
Where We Work
One of the great features of the stove is that it can be shipped flat, reducing shipping volume (and cost) and can be assembled anywhere with simple tools. Contact us to find out more about starting a project in your country.
Current Project
Uganda: Our organization is currently headquartered out of Kampala, Uganda. 99 percent of Uganda’s population relies on wood, charcoal, coal, and kerosene for cooking, which is the main contributor to air pollution that kills at least 10,000 Ugandans a year. We focus direct sales efforts within Uganda but also work through partners to bring the BDS to new markets.
Past Projects
Sudan: During its time as the Darfur Stoves Project, Potential Energy distributed 44,000 improved cookstoves to displaced persons in the Darfur region of Sudan, helping 265,704 people in dire need. By the time Potential Energy began its pivot to Uganda, a transition to a market-based distribution model was almost complete: about 70 percent of stoves brought to Darfur were being sold, not donated, to their users.
Ethiopia: In consultation with residents of Central Ethiopia, Potential Energy modified the Berkeley-Darfur Stove to meet local needs. Working with 1,000 potential customers, we performed market analysis and ran a sales pilot to determine the viability of expanding into Ethiopia. Though market analysis indicated Ethiopia was not well-suited for our first post-Darfur project, we look forward to making the Berkeley-Darfur Stove available in Ethiopia in the future.
Our History
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By 2007, almost 2.4 million Darfurians were internally displaced by the ongoing civil conflict and forced into refugee camps. Those people lacked access to clean cooking technologies and commonly had to leave the camps on foot, three times a week, walking several hours per trip to gather firewood, exposing them to significant danger of violence. Gadgil (the future founder of the Darfur Stoves Project which later evolved into Potential Energy) at LBNL was asked by the United States Government (USAID) to explore if there could be a technical solution to reduce this suffering. Through a rigorous process of design, testing, field evaluation, and iteration, the Berkeley-Darfur Stove was designed to be perfectly suited to the cooking practices and environment of the region, bearing in mind the need to rapidly build, transport, and distribute tens of thousands of stoves with limited funds.
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The Darfur Stoves Project (later to be renamed Potential Energy) pioneers a distribution model in which stove parts are stamped from steel in India and sent to Darfur for assembly. In partnership with Oxfam America, Potential Energy launches an assembly shop in El Fasher, Darfur, and begins distribution.
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Potential Energy markets the stove to local women by partnering with community-based and non-governmental organizations. Focused on building local capacity, Potential Energy uses a “train-the-trainer” model to instruct local women how to teach their friends how to effectively use the Berkeley-Darfur Stove.
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Potential Energy becomes a 501(c)(3) and is awarded a $1.5 million grant from USAID. Seeking to build a sustainable business model, Potential Energy conducts sales trials in Darfur and a feasibility study in Ethiopia.
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Potential Energy expands operations in Darfur, transitioning to a market-based sales model. Sales distribution of the stove increases five-fold.
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Potential Energy launches a Fellows program to explore 3 countries and starts an impact study in Darfur utilizing temperature sensors and mobile surveys. Due to a change in government policy, distribution in Sudan becomes infeasible. In search of a new place to experiment with a market-based model, Potential Energy pivots operations to Uganda.
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Partnering with a local stove supplier Eco Group Ltd., Potential Energy sells several different stoves and fuels on a lease-to-own model. PE discovers the price of these stoves, even on a lease-to-own model, is too high for the Ugandan market. Potential Energy parts ways with Eco Group in order to pursue financial sustainability selling the Berkeley-Darfur Stove.
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Demand for the Berkeley-Darfur Stove grows steadily as numerous partnerships are established with NGOs working in refugee settlements, and Potential Energy develops its own retail team to sell in marketplaces within Kampala. An ashtray is added to the stove to serve urban households, and PE receives support and awards from GIZ Endev and The World Bank. PE registers the program for carbon credits with Gold Standard, a critical development in the financial sustainability of the organization.
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The organization completes its first verification and issuance of carbon credits, and the first 8,750 tons are sold to the University of California Berkeley in contribution to their commitment to carbon neutrality by 2025. PE pivots to exclusively online sales during the global COVID-19 pandemic as the economy and all marketplace sales close for almost two full years.
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PE incorporates a clay-lined, locally made charcoal/briquette stove, and a clean burning electric pressure cooker to its offerings as electricity prices drop and charcoal prices rise. BDS kits are also locally sourced from East Africa, improving our response time to large orders. The marketing team shifts focus to bulk sales with SACCOS, farmers groups and NGOs to multiply impact.
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PE focuses heavily on capacity building of the local Ugandan team, transfers its operations entirely to Uganda and closes the US-based non-profit, while still promoting life-saving cookstoves.
Partners
Our partnerships allow us to more effectively distribute, market, and evaluate the Berkeley-Darfur Stove as we move toward a healthier, more prosperous future.
Potential Energy currently partners with more than 50 governments, NGOs, community-based organizations, non-profits, universities, wholesalers, and retailers. These partnerships reduce our need for external funding and move us toward financial sustainability.
Universities regularly work with us to engage students in our remote and locally-based fellowship program. Donors include global organizations and countless individual supporters. Large international NGOs partner with us to procure stoves for their livelihood, refugee, and environment programs. Local organizations distribute the BDS through their networks of thousands of door-to-door community health promoters, savings groups, and to refugee families.
Our Awards
Breakthrough Award
Popular Mechanics
2007
Zayed Sustainability Prize
2012
Tech Laureate Award
2013
Best Clean Cooking Tech Design
GIZ Endev
2018
Carbon Neutrality Initiative
University of California
2019
Green Innovation Fund
DanChurchAid
2020
Our Values
Humanity
Every human being deserves to live free of poverty and sickness. We empower our customers to improve the health and prosperity of their families and communities.
Stewardship
We understand that the earth does not belong to us. It is our duty to protect it, to use its resources wisely and with great care.
Integrity
We are open and honest with everyone we work with. People trust us to keep our word.
Determination
Building a self-sustaining social enterprise is difficult. We believe it’s worth the work.
Human-Centered Design
We believe technology must be designed to meet the needs and preferences of the intended users.
World Class Science
We believe that the world’s poorest deserve the world’s brightest scientific minds and top-tier research institutions finding solutions to their problems.
Affordability
In keeping with our unwavering focus on the end user, we believe the technologies made for them should be affordable.
Market-Based Approach
We believe the market provides an unparalleled feedback mechanism to ensure we are meeting people’s needs.
Rigorous Impact Evaluation
When possible, we support evaluations of the utmost rigor, including independently controlled trials and use of sensors.
Transparency and Information Sharing
We believe in experimentation and sharing our successes as well as our failures, so that others can learn from our experience.
Financial Sustainability
Building a financially sustainable social enterprise allows us to help people today and tomorrow.
Eventual Exit
We seek to create or leverage local distribution systems that will eventually be able to continue to thrive without our help.
Meet the Team
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Dr. Ashok Gadgil
Co-Founder
Dr. Gadgil is a Faculty Senior Scientist and former Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Andrew and Virginia Rudd Foundation Distinguished Chair of Safe Water and Sanitation in Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of California, Berkeley.
His pioneering compact fluorescent lamp leasing programs are being successfully implemented by utilities in several Eastern European nations. He is credited with several patents and inventions, received the Discover Award in 1996 for the most significant environmental invention of the year, as well as the Popular Science award for “Best of What is New 1996”.
Dr. Gadgil has a doctorate in physics from UC Berkeley, has won over 20 awards for his work, and has over 145 articles published in refereed archival journals.
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Jessica De Clerck
Advisor
Jessica has 16 years of experience in the Ugandan renewable energy sector, specializing in the design, manufacturing, marketing, testing and monitoring of energy efficient cookstoves and biomass briquettes. She launched 2 of the largest cookstove manufacturing units in Uganda including the unit that supplies UpEnergy/SmartHome. She also designed the first ISO tier 4 efficiency biomass stove at less than $5 USD for Living Goods.
Prior to stoves, Jessica managed the importation, warehousing and distribution of all medical and logistical supplies for Medecins San Frontieres-Doctors Without Borders’ largest project worldwide (Nigeria).
After leading PE’s efforts from the ground in Kampala for 6 years, Jessica relocated to her home in Portland, Oregon in 2020 to be closer to family. She oversaw strategy, sales, finance, development, carbon finance, and human resources for the organization as Managing Director from 2015 to 2026.
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Claire Agondeze
Managing Director
Starting with PE as our first Sales Associate in 2016, then Operations Manager in 2020, Claire has steadily climbed the ranks of the organization. As Managing Director, Claire's responsibilities span a wide spectrum of tasks crucial for the seamless functioning of our daily operations. Her duties include overseeing and managing the company's overall operations and facility, coordinating interdepartmental efforts, ensuring accurate record-keeping and reporting, engaging potential partners and NGOs, addressing customer concerns, fostering strong and enduring customer relationships, handling financial transactions, gathering invaluable stove user feedback, and identifying growth opportunities for PE. Claire's educational background includes a Certificate in Management from the African Managers Institute.
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Aggrey Rugyema
Logistics & Product Manager
Aggrey, a dynamic and resourceful member of both our marketing and logistics teams since 2015, originally joined Potential Energy as a driver. Today, he assumes a multifaceted role encompassing new product research, oversees product design, testing, and prototyping, supervises stove distribution, manages company purchases, and oversees shipping and clearing, while also operating marketing campaigns, managing refugee NGO partnerships and ensuring customer satisfaction. Armed with a Diploma in Business Administration from Ndejje University, Aggrey truly lives up to the meaning of his last name, "one who can overcome any situation that comes his way."
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Waswa Akim
Marketing Manager
Waswa handles all marketing and sales through VSLA’s, farmer’s groups, SACCOs and other cooperatives, while also overseeing all sales activities. Having 6 years experience in the stove sector, Waswa joined our team in 2018. Also tech savvy, Waswa brought his knowledge of information technology to PE, and has been instrumental in the transition of the organization from manual database tracking to a digitized version, which is greatly impacting efficiency and productivity among the sales and carbon offset tracking teams.
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Yasin Ngode
Production Manager & Sales Associate
Yasin’s responsibilities encompass a multifaceted role that includes the promotion of stoves at diverse events, diligent follow-ups with prospects, and active engagement with partners. On the production front, his duties involve meticulous oversight of stove manufacturing processes, strategic planning of production schedules with targeted goals for the production team, maintenance of production equipment to ensure operational efficiency, continuous efforts to enhance stove quality, preparation of production budgets, the precise engraving of serial numbers and oversight over the team of 8 production associates.
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Pius Obonyo
Production Assistant & Guard
Pius, who has been with Potential Energy since 2016, serves as both a Production Assistant and Guard. He is responsible for assisting in stove production, overseeing inventory, ensuring quality control, supervising stove deliveries and maintaining security. Pius's hands-on approach and passion for learning make him a valuable member of the team, and he takes great satisfaction in fixing things. Pius is known for his infectious laughter that can brighten anyone's day. Hailing from Tororo, he is a father of eight.
