Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu inspires us and you?

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu inspires us and you?

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, is Founder & Executive Director of ColdHubs Limited, in Nigeria. He’s a member of the Agrinnovators.org platform.

ColdHubs Limited is a company that brings disruptive innovations to local communities and smallholder farmers. ColdHubs are solar-powered walk-in coolers for 24/7 cold storage of perishable food, extending the shelf life of fruit and vegetables from two to 21 days. Community users and smallholder farmers can store food in the cold room for a flat daily fee. The company is leading the market for innovative and affordable cold storage solutions in Nigeria and plans to roll out ColdHubs across Africa, starting with South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Benin and Kenya.

Many African smallholder fresh produce farmers lack access to electricity and the financial means to invest in refrigeration technology. As a result, they suffer higher post-harvest losses. In 2015, Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu set up ColdHubs to help these farmers prevent post-harvest losses. Each ColdHubs unit has a state-of-the-art ColdHubs Advanced Remote Monitoring System (CARMS), which monitors the number of door openings, battery percentage, ambient temperature, cold room temperature and solar radiation. CARMS allows the team to manage and anticipate the performance of each hub. CARMS is now being extended to customers via the Virtual Cold Chain Assistant.

Ikegwuonu hopes that technology will continue to redefine agricultural production on the African continent. “Our farmers are predominantly smallholder farmers who rely on oral tradition and knowledge to produce food. Most of these traditional practices are being challenged in our era of rapid climate change, and productivity is declining as environmental performance weakens. This local and traditional knowledge will be more useful if it is enhanced by technology,” he said. He believes that technology will play a role in improving production decision-making, helping to manage crop and livestock growth, enhancing yields and quickly connecting farmers to a wider market.

ColdHubs is available in 38 locations across 22 states in Nigeria and will soon extend its technology and services to East Africa, Southern Africa and some West and Francophone African countries.