Vivo Energy teams with KOKO Networks to retail ethanol cooking fuel

In Kenya, Vivo Energy Kenya announced a partnership with KOKO Networks that sees it enter the Kenyan market for clean liquid ethanol cooking fuel.

Vivo Energy, the company which distributes and markets Shell-branded fuels and lubricants across Africa, is the first multinational fuel company to enter the ethanol cooking fuel sector, working with KOKO to add ethanol cooking fuel to its existing liquid fuels infrastructure in Kenya.

KOKO is an international technology company that has developed a unique hardware and software platform that enables the large-scale low-cost distribution of ethanol cooking fuel in African cities in partnership with downstream fuels infrastructure owners.

Through this Kenyan operating partnership, Vivo Energy and KOKO Networks will be commercially launching the consumer offering across every single neighbourhood in greater Nairobi.

Ethanol cooking fuel is sourced from both Kenyan molasses ethanol plants and imported sources, and then stored in dedicated tanks at Vivo Energy depots and service stations that are equipped with KOKO’s “Smart Depot System”. Vivo Energy’s small fuel truck contractors, outfitted with KOKO’s “Smart Tanker System”, then undertake last-mile deliveries from the Vivo Energy service stations to the network of “KOKOpoint” Fuel ATMs, located across Nairobi within small KOKO Agent neighbourhood shops. Consumers dock their “Smart Canisters” with the KOKOpoints to refill their canisters, which are then docked at home with modern ethanol stoves. The KOKO Cloud software platform enables cashless payments, remote safety monitoring and complete visibility and control across the fuel supply chain.