Entrepreneurs trained and equipped by an NGO, Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE) in Kaduna have begun to reap profits from the clean cook stove.
Some of the entrepreneurs called `clean cook stove financial women’, told the Nigeria News Agency on Tuesday, that the business had changed their financial status and improved their living standard.
One of them, Mrs Rifkatu Yakubu, who joined the clean cook stove entrepreneurs’ movement in 2017, said that she had sold close to 300 stoves from 2017 to date and still counting.
Yakubu explained that the stoves sell for between N3,500 and N20,000 depending on the brand and quality, describing it as a profitable business with high returns on investment.
“The business has not only boosted my existing food items business but improved the income of my family and gave me some level of prominence in my community,” she said.
Another Entrepreneur, Mrs Anna Avong, who equally joined the business in 2017, said that she had sold more than 200 stoves so far.
Ayong noted that the business had linked her up with so many people within and outside her community.
“I was not good at business until I was trained by WISE to become a clean cook stove entrepreneur, which had significantly improved my business skills and exposed me to the business community.
“People are now tracking me from far and wide to purchase the clean cook stove,” Avong said.
On her part, Mrs Nwabuoku Ken-Dikens, a Civil Servant, said she tried so many businesses without success until she was introduced to clean cook stove entrepreneurship movement in 2019.
“I collected a N400,000 loan from a cooperative and invested it in ginger business in a bid to create other sources of income to augment my meagre salary.
“Unfortunately, the ginger I bought for N26,000 per 100 kg crashed to N6,000. It was a huge loss and terrible experience for me. I tried other businesses but all failed, so I gave up.
“I was introduced to clean cook stove entrepreneurship movement in 2019. I was reluctant at first but decided to give it a try and surprisingly, it was a huge success.
“The product does not expire and the demand for it kept growing. I have sold over 90 clean cook stoves so far,” she said.
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