Green Crossroads launches new spin-off, developing small hydro power plants in Kenya

Following a matchmaking between Belgian and Kenyan start-ups as part of the Silicon Savannah economic mission by Startups.be & Close the Gap, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Green Crossroads is happy to announce the launch of a new spin-off in Kenya.

With regard to renewable energy, Green Crossroads operates under the brand name “Hydrobox”, developing containerised hydro power plants in partnership with their technology partner Malthe Winje and local African entrepreneurs.

On 22 May 2018, Green Crossroads signed a partnership & shareholding agreement with a Kenyan company, Magiro Hydro Electricity Ltd. This company is the success story of John Magiro, a school leaver and self-made entrepreneur who has built a small hydro power plant, providing low-cost electricity access to 250 households in Murang’a County Kenya, with support from the Kenyan government through the NETFUNDGreen Innovations Award Programme.

The partnership with Green Crossroads aims at fine-tuning the power plant’s technology based on the Hydrobox technology and scaling up production, in order to provide affordable electricity to 5.000 households. In the next 3 years, the model will be replicated in other regions and neighbouring countries.

We wanted to share this good news with our stakeholders & the broader community as it is a good example of “enabling partnerships” between companies as an alternative to the traditional view of “development cooperation”.

After a successful first experience setting up plastic recycling company NAMé Recycling in Cameroon, Hydrobox is Green Crossroads’ second “project” having evolved in a separate “spin-off”.