New study on credit management sets out how pay-as-you-go clean cooking can scale sustainably

We are releasing a new study paper, Pay-as-you-go clean cooking: Key insights to drive sustainable scale, which outlines how pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) clean cooking companies can scale while protecting customers and investor confidence. The report draws lessons from the off-grid solar home systems sector and highlights a critical window of opportunity for clean cooking to avoid repeating past credit failures by putting strong credit practices in place early.

The analysis shows that PAYGo clean cooking combines physical products with consumer credit in largely unregulated markets, creating risks if sales growth is prioritised over credit quality. Unlike solar home systems, clean cooking businesses must also ensure sustained product usage to secure carbon revenues, while most cookstoves cannot be remotely locked for repayment enforcement. These differences make robust upfront customer assessment and transparent credit practices essential from the start.

The report sets out three practical recommendations to build investor-ready operations: separating credit from sales functions, preparing now for incoming credit regulation, and establishing standardised key performance indicators and benchmarking across the sector. Together, these steps can improve transparency, strengthen portfolios and help direct capital towards companies with sound, long-term business models.

“Clean cooking has a chance to learn from what went wrong in pay-as-you-go solar and to do things differently,” comments Heli Sinkko, Fund Manager of MCFA at Nefco. “By putting customer protection, credit discipline and transparency at the core of their models, companies can grow in a way that is both investable and resilient.”

Catalyst Energy Advisors and MAF Lab, which contributed to the analysis, underline the importance of acting early. “Capital will only flow at scale if investors can clearly understand risk and performance,” comments Russell Lyseight, Head of Enterprise Development at Catalyst Energy Advisors. “Standardised metrics and a clear separation between selling products and extending credit are essential for building trust in the clean cooking PAYGo sector.”

For further information about the Pay-as-you-go clean cooking report:

Visit www.moderncooking.africa and read the report Pay-as-you-go clean cooking: Key insights to drive sustainable scale

For further information, please contact:

Heli Sinkko, MCFA Fund Manager, Nefco
heli.sinkko@nefco.int, +358 10 6180 659

Russell Lyseight, Head of Enterprise Development, Catalyst Energy Advisors
russell@catalyst-advisors.com, +260 971 581 147