The “Green Box” is a system of solar-powered cold rooms, managed by an application, that allows small-scale farmers to preserve their perishable products for a longer period. Its inventor, 33-year-old Divin Kouebatouka, claims to have nurtured this project since childhood.
“At the age of 15, I accompanied my parents to the fields, in their agricultural projects. I saw that my parents were losing half of their production. And after my studies, this is what I wanted to do. I am a renewable energy engineer, which enabled me to install these cold rooms and make it a personal mission,” explained the laureate.
According to Stéphane Madou, West Africa project team leader at the French Development Agency, the strength of the “Green Box” is that it manages to address two needs simultaneously: “First, the preservation, or at least the minimization of agricultural waste, or unused agricultural residues, and also an optimal use of the natural resources available in Africa, especially solar energy.”
A €15,000 check to develop the project
Of all the projects presented, Divin Kouebatouka’s was the most mature, praised Philippe Miquel, CEO of CFAO Infrastructure-Sector B2B, who was part of the jury. The first “Green Box” installations are already in place, and the engineer is only waiting for large-scale development. “He already has four or five ‘Green Box’ in operation, with 25 more in the pipeline. He is ready to start. This project is the one that the prize would boost the most for scalability. And in innovation, scalability is a critical element,” stated Divin Kouebatouka.
He will receive a €15,000 check to develop his project, equivalent to 9.8 million CFA francs.