ColdHubs

About

ColdHubs was created to eliminate food spoilage, increase income and make nutritious food more available for consumption. The partnership designs, builds, commissions and operates 100% solar-powered walk-in cold rooms branded as “ColdHubs,” for farmers, retailers and wholesalers to store and preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and other perishable foods, extending their shelf life from two to 21 days. ColdHubs also offers farmers a flexible pay-as-you-store subscription model. 

ColdHubs is currently serving 3,517 farmers, retailers and wholesalers using its 24 installed cold rooms in 18 farms, aggregation centers and markets within the Southern and Northern Regions of Nigeria. The 24 operational ColdHubs have saved 462,528 kg of CO2 and saved 20,400 tons of food by reducing exposure to harsh sunlight, chemical, bacterial, parasitic and mycotoxin contamination. This partnership has also created 48 new jobs for women by recruiting and training them to work as Hub Operators and Market Managers in markets and farm clusters.

The partnership is focusing on replicating its model across Nigeria, bringing the projected total number of Hubs to 54 by the end of 2020. In the next 5 to 10 years, ColdHubs aims to deploy 1,000 - 5,000 Hubs to serve at least 1,000,000 smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers in West, East and Southern Africa. These improvements will save at least 1,095,000 tons of food from spoilage yearly, making it available for local consumption.

Partners

Powering Agriculture – Sustainable Energy for Food Department of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), ColdHubs Ltd., The Smallholders Foundation, The Institute for Air Handling and Refrigeration Dresden, Germany (ILK, Institut für Luft- und Kältetechnik).