BioLite executives will speak at an upcoming conference focused on fighting global poverty that his being hosted by officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department.
The conference, Innovating for Impact: The MDGs and Beyond, will take place Tuesday, Sept. 23 in New York City and is being co-hosted by USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and U.K. Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening. Taking place alongside the UN General Assembly, this event focuses on the countdown to the Millennium Development Goals, an 8-point set of objectives aimed at stimulating country action to eradicate global poverty by 2015.
BioLite will be sharing stories from the companys successful market-based cook stove distribution, speaking to the unique challenges and opportunities for impact in emerging markets. BioLite, a member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, launched three commercial pilot programs in 2013 for the BioLite HomeStove, a wood-burning stove that dramatically reduces smoke while generating useful electricity for off-grid communities around the world.
Half the planet still cooks on smoky open fires, killing more people annually than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, combined, Says Jonathan Cedar, BioLite Co-Founder and CEO. The BioLite HomeStove offers a solution to reduce toxic emissions and climate changing carbon by 90 percent, cut wood consumption by 50 percent, and offer a compelling immediate benefit to customers by being able to charge devices like mobile phones or LED lights.
The HomeStove is currently in distribution across hundreds of villages in India, Ghana, and Uganda, with thousands of units sold over the past year.
We have invested in local teams and built training programs from the ground up, says Cedar, we are proud to be an organization that furthers the Millennium Development Goals and we look forward to sharing stories of success and shine a light on the devastating impact of indoor air pollution, a worldwide issue that deserves attention and action.
Prior to the talk, BioLite will have an interactive booth present at the Innovation Marketplace, a showcase of solutions helping countries work towards meeting the MDGs.
In addition to their participation at the upcoming USAID panel, BioLite recently spoke on emerging markets and new technologies at the Social Capital Markets Conference, Maker Con and the US Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizenship Conference. It was also nominated as a finalist for the 2014 Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards in the Social Good category.
BioLite develops, manufactures, and markets consumer energy products for off-grid communities around the world. Headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, the company was founded in 2009 by Jonathan Cedar and Alec Drummond.
