When green dreams hit roadblocks

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Welcome to Green Jobs Rising!

Sometimes even the well-meaning startups fail for reasons that are at times beyond them.

Recently, news broke that a Kenyan-based technology company with a massive clean energy infrastructure had ceased operations.

This hit very hard. The company? KOKO Networks.

KOKO is a cooking fuel and equipment company, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. 

It primarily provides bioethanol as cooking fuel to customers to replace charcoal fuel.

Their business model depended on selling carbon credits. 

In late January, the company failed to secure the government approvals required to sell carbon credits, as well as the import permits for ethanol.

Result? They announced they were closing down in Kenya.

The company was well known for supplying bioethanol cooking fuel and smart cookstoves, using a network of automated dispensing stations across Kenya, reaching hundreds of thousands of households.

Their closure meant they had to lay off around 700 direct employees.

In addition to those direct jobs, thousands of independent agents and shop owners who earned income through KOKO’s distribution network have also lost their income because their businesses depended on hosting the company’s fuel dispensers, not to mention 1.5 million households affected by the move.

This is the ripple effect of well-meaning startups running into hurdles in their path to regreening the planet. 

Some of these challenges include economic downturns, competition, regulatory hurdles, funding shortages, among others.

This is unfortunately not an isolated case. All over the globe there are companies who have faced similar challenges e.g LanzaTech (USA/Asia) among others.

Unfortunately, this is also the case in other sectors, not just in the climate space. 

But it is a sobering example and goes to show the importance of supporting startups through policy, finance, and community engagement.

While it is not a call to give up trying to bring ideas to life, innovators must learn from setbacks like KOKO Networks.

The shutdown of KOKO Networks is a reminder that not all green jobs are permanent. Climate-tech is growing but it’s also volatile. Here’s a quick video on how to strategically navigate a career in the green economy.