In this conversation I sit with the one and only, Charlot Magayi who is the Founder of Mukuru Clean Stoves- a clean cooking company that repurposes locally sourced waste metal to manufacture improved, efficient, and reliable cookstoves. In this episode, we discuss her childhood experiences growing up in one of the largest slum in Kenya, losing both her parents by the age of 10, and her experience of becoming a teen mom at 16.

Despite facing incredible setbacks early on in life, Charlot has gone on to accomplish the unthinkable including winning the Earthshot prize in 2022 an award started by Prince William and David Attenborough and a cash prize of 1 Million Pounds. In this conversation, we discuss the power of asking persistently and being comfortable with rejection. We discuss how to never let success make you complacent as there will always be more work to do and greater heights to reach.

Charlot has been recognized and awarded by Global Citizen, World Bank, and United Nations. She was among the 100 most influential Young Africans in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Her company, Mukuru Clean Stoves, has manufactured and distributed over 400,000 cookstoves, impacting the lives of 2,000,000 Kenyans living in poverty. Charlot is currently building a 300,000 square foot sustainable energy campus in Kenya and developing a malaria fighting fuel.

Charlot is an Echoing Green Fellow, an Africa Business Hero, a Global Good Fund Fellow, a Stanford Global Energy Hero, a Forbes under 30 lister and a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst and she sits on the board of three international funds. 

This is a gem packed episode and I hope you enjoy and learn from it.

Follow the work of Mukuru Clean Stoves below:

Website: https://mukurustoves.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mukurucleanstoves/

Follow Charlot:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlotmagayi/