Top Third Ventures

Top Third Ventures is a limited liability company headquartered in Mauritius with a subsidiary registered in Kenya that deals mainly with carbon credits and Bottom of the Pyramid consumer segmentation. The company provides financiers, manufacturers, and distributors of efficient cook stoves access to carbon finance through its carbon credit programme, which is accessible though a mobile app.

Top Third Ventures
TypePrivately Held Company
IndustryCarbon offset projects,
Data Analysis and
Carbon Credit trading
Founded2011, Mauritius
Area served
149 countries of operation
Key people
Lucas Belenky (CEO)[1]
Björn Hammar (Chairman)[2]
ServicesData Tracking
Customer Data Analysis
Carbon Credits
Websitetopthirdventures.com

History

Top Third Ventures was founded on 9 November 2011, by Lucas Belenky[1] and Björn Hammar[2] in Nairobi, Kenya. Björn Hammar, a Finnish national, met Lucas Belenky, a United States national, several months before during a professional hiatus while traveling through sub-Saharan Africa. A chance meeting with an efficient cook stove designer led to an introduction to Lucas who was a senior associate with KPMG East Africa’s Sustainability Advisory Services at the time. Björn and Lucas had their first meeting at the Westgate shopping mall.[3]

Top Third Ventures original business was to design, market, and sell an efficient cook stove with brand name Baker[4] for the rural consumer market in Kenya. Two additional business divisions grew out of the direct sale of the Baker cook stove: the Business-To-Business division providing other cook stove manufacturers and distributors access to carbon finance and the Big Data division. The retail sale of the Baker cook stove below cost of production was possible through carbon financing. Top Third Ventures registered the Top Third Ventures Stove Programme, a program of activities under the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The programme was registered on 27 December 2012[5] and allows Top Third Ventures to earn Certified Emissions Reductions from cook stove activities for a 28-year period. To streamline the realization of carbon credits, track sales, and achieve market segmentation, a mobile app was set up on Android and linked to a backend data visualization and data analysis tool. The aggregation of large amounts of cookstove user data is the foundation of Top Third Ventures’ Big Data division.

Top Third Ventures market entry strategy was through its own Baker cook stove. Claesson Koivisto Rune developed the design of the Baker cookstove to emphasize aesthetic appeal, usability, and cultural conformity. In early 2013 the first 200 Baker cook stoves were manufactured In Nairobi and sold through Top Third Ventures’ flagship store in Laikipia County, Kenya.[6] The cook stoves were sold from a refurbished shipping container and the sales team was composed on local village motorcycle taxis that were given sample products. The Baker cook stoves were sold for a retail price of $25.[7] Sales data and customer information was recorded through Top3 Tracker.

After encountering quality problems in the domestically produced Baker cookstoves and unable to raise working capital to establish production overseas at sufficient economies of scale, Top Third Ventures focused on the Business-to-Business and Big Data divisions of the company by working with existing financiers, manufacturers, and distributors of cook stoves around the developing, to provide them access to Top Third Ventures’ carbon credit programme.

On 12 September 2012, Top Third Ventures Global was incorporated in Mauritius as a limited liability company. The restructuring reduced the exposure of Top Third Ventures’ operations to political risk from the upcoming Kenyan General Election, 2013.

Business model

Through TTV’s carbon credit programme the company reduces the cost of accessing carbon finance and lowers the time required to certify an efficient cook stove activity for carbon finance.

References
  1. "CMU Alumnus Launches Cookstove Project Empowering Rural Women in Africa; Crowdsource Funding Underway -Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Carnegie Mellon University". Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  2. David South, E.W.; Rolfsdottir, S. (2014). Southern Innovator Magazine Issue 5: Waste and Recycling: Improving Human Development with Finite Resources. p. 47. ISBN 9780992021719. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  3. Mathew Juma O (Athias Avians). "About | What We Do | Top Third Ventures". topthirdventures.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  4. "Baker : Energy Efficient Cookstove". bakerproduct.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  5. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "CDM: Top Third Ventures Stove Programme". cdm.unfccc.int. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  6. "The first Baker Stove store opened on March 29th, 2013 in Kenya, specifically…". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  7. "A Simple, Elegant Stove To Make Cooking Safer In Africa | Co.Exist | ideas + impact". fastcoexist.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
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