The Independent has published a feature examining the role of solar-powered cold storage in addressing post-harvest loss across African agriculture, with SokoFresh, a portfolio venture of Enviu operating in Kenya, presented as a central case study.
The article addresses a persistent structural issue in African agrifood value chains: the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that up to 40% of food produced in Africa is lost between harvest and market, primarily due to inadequate storage and transport infrastructure rather than deficiencies in agricultural production itself. This represents a significant and largely preventable loss of value across the supply chain.
SokoFresh’s model addresses this through a pay-per-use cold storage service, in which farmers are charged according to the volume of produce stored rather than being required to bear the capital cost, estimated at approximately $30,000, of owning a solar-powered cold storage unit outright. According to the article, this approach has reduced spoilage rates for participating farmers from as high as 50% to under 2%, while increasing farmer earnings by up to 50% per kilogram. These figures offer a useful indication of the unit economics achievable through infrastructure-as-a-service models in fragmented, smallholder-dominated markets.
The article also addresses the financing constraints facing this sector. SokoFresh CEO Denis Karema is quoted attributing investor hesitation to a shortage of proven models with “reliable returns.” He notes that this makes financing for ventures of this type comparatively costly to secure.
The full article situates SokoFresh within a broader regional context, referencing comparable cold-chain models operating in Nigeria and Rwanda, and is recommended reading for those evaluating investment opportunities in African agrifood infrastructure.
