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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information, contact: OPIC FACILITATES TRANSFER OF
ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY COOKING WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is contributing a $300,000 loan to a joint venture that will provide alternate cooking technology to low- and middle-income households in Uganda that would otherwise depend on scarce wood or expensive oil resources, with negative environmental impacts. SUN OVENS International, Inc. of Elburn IL, through the USAID Global Technology Network’s (GTN) business facilitation program, has licensed the unique solar cooking technology, known as GLOBAL SUN OVENS©, to a joint venture between UltraTec of Kampala, Uganda and the Tucson Transatlantic Trade Inc. Holding Group (TTT). TTT is active in the energy, environment, factory automation, industrial construction and food processing sectors, with activities in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. The exclusive manufacturing rights are being conveyed on a test marketing basis to provide the alternate cooking technology. This transaction is supported by a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, in addition to the OPIC loan. The transfer of this technology will address the rapidly expanding problem of deforestation, global warming and the growing need to incorporate environmentally friendly solar approaches to everyday living. The demands of population growth, and the inefficient conversion of wood to charcoal, have outstripped much of the forests’ ability to regenerate. Initially, some 60 units have been shipped from the U.S. for test marketing. Local assembly and manufacture will follow as the market grows. After the initial test marketing, sales forecasts will be developed and a component part manufacturing facility will be opened in the TTT Inc. Holding Group Industrial Park near Kampala, Uganda. This local production capability should directly translate into an approximate cost savings of some 40 percent, thus making the units more affordable to poor families in rural areas. The National Strategy for the Advancement of Rural Women in Uganda (NSARWU), an NGO founded by the First Lady of Uganda Janet Museveni, will assist in making the ovens available to women in rural Uganda. NSARWA is developing a culturally appropriate training program that will distribute ovens to trained participants allowing them to make small monthly payments (over a three-year period) from the savings obtained by not purchasing other cooking fuels. SUN OVENS International has taken a concept that has been around for centuries and incorporated more recently developed materials to produce an effective solar cooking device that can meet 80 percent of the cooking needs of Ugandan families powered with the ever abundant solar rays. Based on this initial market entry in Uganda, the GLOBAL SUN OVEN© has great potential for use throughout the African continent. OPIC's political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all sizes invest in 140 emerging markets and developing nations worldwide. Over the agency's 30-year history, OPIC has supported $138 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $10 billion in host-government revenues and create nearly 668,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $63.6 billion in U.S. exports and create nearly 250,000 American jobs. |
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