For the families who buy one, that means spending less on fuel. For Vincent Ubeling, the founder, each of the 300 stoves his team now makes every month is a reminder of how far his idea has come.
It had a humble beginning. In 2024, Green at Mind was just three people working from a small plastic tent in Kakuma, Turkana County. Finding support was hard. The team was small, not yet registered, and the idea was still taking shape.
"We tried to look for support, but no one was willing to open the door for a small group of three," Vincent recalls. "It was difficult to be known or to be seen."
That changed when Green at Mind was selected for the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre's Sustainable Waste Innovation for a Future in Transition (SWIFT) Programme.
With SWIFT's technical assistance, Green at Mind formally registered, became fully compliant and moved into a visible, branded production plant. Vincent calls compliance one of the two biggest game changers in his journey.
"The market is not just the customer coming to buy. It's also a third eye watching what you do and telling others about your product," he says. "When you're compliant, you can knock on any door, because you have papers to show."
The second game changer was connection. The relationships SWIFT opened up led to a partnership with SNV, which brought mentorship and results-based financing. At a KCIC event, the team met their partner who has supported them with grants.
"Entrepreneurship is tough when you are alone," Vincent says. Today, whenever there is an event where they can meet people, his team is there.
The team of three is now 29 people, working from Turkana, Thika and Garissa and supported by a network of 62 local distributors. Production has grown from fewer than 40 stoves a month to 300, and the plant now recycles about 1.5 tonnes of metal waste every month.
Each new model has responded to what customers need. A low-cost square stove made the switch affordable for lower-income households. A higher-quality version followed, developed through a technology partnership. Then came a double-burner, so families can cook two meals at once instead of waiting for one to finish. An electric model is now in pilot, designed to eventually suit households at every income level.
Green at Mind now serves semi-urban households in Thika as well as rural households in Turkana.
By 2030, Vincent wants Green at Mind to produce at least 60,000 stoves. The business will expand next to Kilifi, Samburu and Wajir, where he says families face the same cooking challenges as in Turkana. For Vincent, the goal is simple: fewer people falling sick from cooking with unclean fuels.
To get there, he is looking for market linkages, tender opportunities and investors open to concessional debt or equity.The dream that began in a tent in Kakuma is still growing.
Vincent's journey is one of many. Over the past two years, KCIC's SWIFT Programme has supported 110 climate-smart enterprises across two cohorts through incubation, acceleration and access to finance.
Vincent's journey is one of many. SWIFT teams recently travelled across Kenya to visit the enterprises the programme supports and see first-hand what that support has made possible. They tracked each business's growth, listened to founders, offered mentorship where it was needed, and looked at how the enterprises are building businesses that last.
Like Green at Mind, each of these enterprises turns waste into something valuable, and that idea is at the heart of the SWIFT Programme.
Funded by the IKEA Foundation and implemented by KCIC, SWIFT is a three-year programme working to transform Kenya's waste management sector. It backs businesses built on circular economy principles, where waste becomes a resource instead of a problem. The programme supports 110 enterprises across the country with business advisory services, technical assistance, mentorship and access to finance.
SWIFT's work also goes beyond individual businesses. Together with the national government and five counties (Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu and Uasin Gishu), the programme supports policies and regulations that encourage the private sector to invest in waste management and the circular economy.
This work reflects KCIC's wider mission. Across renewable energy, water, agribusiness, waste management and commercial forestry, KCIC supports entrepreneurs whose solutions tackle climate change, catalysing climate entrepreneurship in Africa to build sustainable, resilient communities.
Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing more of their stories.