Nigerian, Ghanaian fight pollution with high tech cooking stove invention

African youth have been consistent in delivering world class innovation over the past decade as more individuals veer into the technology world. Several life-improving inventions by the African child have left the world to appreciate the continent better in terms of technology.

With most having the desire to change the African narrative of being underdeveloped and lagging behind digitization, others were inspired by circumstances which will eventually positively impact future generations.

This is the story of two young men of Nigerian and Ghanaian descent who have innovated a cooking stove that will not only be portable and affordable but environmentally friendly.

The innovators, Maxwell Chinnah and Godwin Attigah are students who were inspired to build the Terraoak Genesys Camping Stove which aside reducing smoke pollution by 90%, can also charge mobile phone devices.

Maxwell and Godwin met at the Wartburg College, Iowa after they received a scholarship to study at the institution before Godwin transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

According to them, they have been able to sustain a productive working relationship ever since.

Their inspiration was birthed when they attended a number of Clinton Global Initiative conferences and felt empowered that age was not an excuse to not pursue their goals. Also, the pair felt the strong urge to impact on the upcoming African youth.

“As Dr. King said ‘the time is always right to do the right thing’,” they told GhanaWeb’s Florence Naa Oyoe Quartey in an interview.

The young inventors take pride in the uniqueness of their product implying that “our stove is not only able to reduce smoke pollution, but also generate electricity from waste heat. Genesys (Generator System) outputs 10W for recharging phones, lamps, headlamps, etc. And we have a Utility Patent unlike most products in this category.”

How it all begun

They Received initial funding from Resolution Project at Business Competition, Harvard. Funds were disbursed in 2015, and that’s what facilitated prototype iterations and developed drawings for a non-provisional Patent application filed in 2016.



How it works

Genesys outputs 10 Watts of power created using the internal thermo-electric generators in the system. The fans supply secondary airflow to the burn chamber in order to combat the smoke.

The outer shell remains cool since it's isolated from the internal burn chamber, so moving it about when in use isn't an issue.

When you finished using the stove, simply wait for it to cool - then empty the removable ash cup at the bottom of the unit.

Safety Measures

According to Maxwell and Godwin, they have ensured that the electrical circuitry in the stove is able to supply the needed amount of electricity safely via the USB outlets.



They explained, “What that means is that your phone will not receive any surge of current that it can’t handle. We output 2 amps @ 5 volts equalling 10 watts in power. The 2 amps is equivalent to what you’d get from your iPhone/iPad wall charger. Therefore it’s safe not only for phones, but lamps, tablets, and other mobile devices.”

Environmental Protection

Akin to solar technology that captures the sun’s radiation and output electricity, the technology captures heat energy that is often wasted and converts it to electricity.



“Therefore, we generate and output renewable energy that is all around us. We were inspired by the work of Thomas Johann Seebeck, a German physicist who discovered the movement of electrons in a Thermocouple with a hot side and a cold side. With limited financing and bootstrapping, we were able to build upon this technology and secure a Utility Patent for our invention. With more support, we can scale this technology to industrial usage and other large scale applications -- especially across developing countries where over 1 Billion still lack access to electricity -- which makes us very excited for the future!”



Funds and Marketing

Raising funds, they said, have been challenging for several reasons including systemic biases and lack of access to the right networks. This contributes to one of the many encounters of an entrepreneur, Mawell and Attigah say being an entrepreneur is hard on its own, but especially more challenging for minority groups.

“One thing that has kept us going is the need to share this technology with the world in order to positively impact lives and to ensure a greener future for the next generation. Also, we know that while ideas may be global, resources are not. It’s our hope that our story would inspire entrepreneurs to say to themselves “If those guys can do it, despite the odds, then we can do it too!”



They further said the Terraoak Genesys Camping Stove is just the beginning of more inventions.

“We have other products in the pipeline, some of which we tested alongside our pilot in Ghana with funds from Yale. Not to risk revealing anything too soon, we are really excited to introduce more products as soon as we get our flagship product into the market.”