Coldhubs

Solar Powered Cold Storage for Developing Countries

Storage

Storing your perishable fruits

Ready to be stored

You will be secured with coldhubs

Good customer care

Giving 100% friendly customer service.

2-21days

Prolong the lifespan of your perishable food

ColdHubs : Solar Powered Cold Storage for Developing Countries

The Solution: Walk-in, solar-powered cold stations for 24/7 storage and preservation

extends shelf life of perishable food from 2 days to 21

Our innovation, ColdHubs, is a “plug and play” modular, solar-powered walk-in cold room, for 24/7 off-grid storage and preservation of perishable foods. It adequately addresses the problem of post- harvest losses in fruits, vegetables and other perishable food. ColdHubs, is installed in major food production and consumption centers (in markets and farms), farmers place their produce in clean plastic crates, these plastic crates are stacked inside the cold room. This extends the freshness of fruits, vegetables and other perishable food from 2 days to about 21 days. The solar powered walk-in cold room is made of 120mm insulating cold room panels to retain cold. Energy from solar panels mounted on the roof-top of the cold room are stored in high capacity batteries, these batteries feeds an inverter which in turn feeds the refrigerating unit.

Flexible Pay-As-You-Store Model

Coldhubs offers farmers with a flexible pay-as-you-store subscription model. In preparation for storage, farmers transfer their perishable foods into our reusable crates, which fit neatly onto the shelves. Farmers pay a daily flat fee for each crate of food they store.

Prototype Gallery

Social Impact

Featured

Reduce Food Waste

Coldhubs extend the shelf life of perishable food from 2 days to 21, reducing post harvest loss by 80%.

Increase Local Farmer Income

With more of their harvest to sell, smallholder farmers will be able to increase their annual income by 25%.

Create Jobs for Women

Our target is to hire mainly women to manage the operations and collection of revenue at Coldhubs stations.

Reduce Malnutrition

More nutritious food will be available to rural and urban dwellers, especially children.

Self-Sustainable Business Model

Our business model will enable us to become self-sustainable within the first year of operation.

Our Team

Team Profile

Nnaemeka C. Ikegwuonu - CEO

Farmer, innovator, leading social entrepreneur and Founder/CEO of the Smallholders Foundation Ltd./Gte in 2003.

Created Smallholder Farmer Rural Radio (2 million Nigerian listeners), The Agriprenuership Academy, The Smallholders Seed Store, Smallholders Microcredit, and GrainStore polypropylene bags (grain preservation bags).

Highly honored with 23 awards - Ashoka Fellow 2008, Rolex Awards 2010, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative in Business 2012, Nigeria’s Young Person of the Year 2011, Niigata International Food Prize Laureate, 2012 and 2013 Laureate of the Yara Prize for Green Revolution .

Bright Benjamin Igbokwe - COO

Experienced business development manager with extensive expertise in agribusiness startups, rural logistics, distribution, commercial strategy, contract negotiations, business processes, and team building.

Chidubem Maxwell Okoro - Technical Officer (TO)

Chidubem is an agricultural engineer, with extensive knowledge and expertise in clean energy, solar cells, batteries, air conditioning, cold room design, and refrigeration. He holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) Agricultural Engineering, from the Federal Polytechnic Owerri, Nigeria and a Technical Certificate in Electrical and Electronics Enginering. As TO, He designs, constructs, installs and maintains the solar powered walk in cold rooms. He also trains technicians and operators on installation, maintenance and repair of the cold rooms.

Key Advisors

Advisor Profile

Michael Luni Libes

Co-Founder/CTO - Zettics
Co-Founder/Architect - Medio
Co-Founder/Architect - 2WAY
Co-Founder/CEO - Nimble
Seattle, USA

Dr. Jorg Waschull

Physicist and Engineer
Department of Technology
Institute for Air Conditioning
and Refrigeration
Dresden, Germany

Ben Odoemena, PhD

IFAD Country Programme Officer

West and Central Africa Division

Nigeria Country Office

The Problem: In developing countries, 45% of food spoils mainly due to lack of cold storage

470 million small farmers to lose 25% of their annual income

Perishable food especially fresh fruits and vegetables start to deteriorate as soon as they are harvested because they are cut off from their source of water and nutrition. They lose weight, texture, flavor, nutritional value and appeal. Cooling significantly slows down the rate of deterioration, thereby increasing the storage life of the produce.

Spoiled Gallery