The corporate has entered administration after ‘vital monetary pressure.’
The corporate has laid off its complete workforce and entered liquidation (Picture: Getty)
KOKO Networks (UK) Restricted has entered administration after ‘vital monetary pressure’ linked to a dispute over carbon credit score gross sales pushed the broader group to the brink. Rachael Wilkinson, Adam Seres and Mark Tobias Banfield of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) have been appointed as joint directors of the UK firm.
The UK entity is a subsidiary that features a Mauritian mum or dad and a Kenyan working firm, KOKO Networks Restricted, Kenya LLC, which was based in 2013 and have become one in every of Africa’s largest clear cooking corporations. Backed by Vitol and the World Financial institution, the agency was one of many world’s largest cookstove venture builders working in Kenya and had over 1,300 employees throughout East Africa and India at its peak. The Kenyan arm manufactured and distributed bioethanol cooking stoves to households throughout Kenya, positioning itself as a large-scale clear cooking supplier.
The corporate was one of many world’s largest cookstove venture builders (Picture: Getty)
Central to the group’s mannequin was the technology and sale of carbon credit. By working beneath its permitted emissions cap, the Kenyan enterprise accrued carbon credit, which have been transferred to the UK subsidiary on the market into worldwide compliance markets. Income from these gross sales was used to subsidise the price of stoves and gasoline for shoppers.
Nonetheless, the Kenyan authorities didn’t difficulty the licence required for the continued buying and selling of these credit in compliance markets.
With out authorisation to promote present credit or obtain new issuances, the group’s money circulation was severely disrupted. Directors stated this regulatory deadlock created ‘vital monetary pressure’ in latest months.
On the finish of January, the corporate laid off its complete 700-strong workforce in Kenya and halted operations after being prevented from promoting its carbon credit.
The enterprise invested virtually $300 million (£222 million) total, about half of which went into constructing a nationwide bioethanol distribution community serving roughly 1.3 million low-income city households, The Monetary Instances reported.
The shutdown dangers subsequently forcing over a million households that relied on its subsidised bioethanol again to extra polluting fuels corresponding to kerosene and charcoal.
The enterprise employed greater than 700 employees instantly and labored with hundreds of brokers who operated a community of greater than 3,000 automated refuelling machines nationwide.
Koko had beforehand deliberate to develop its buyer base in Kenya to a minimum of three million households by December 2027, in response to Enterprise and Human Rights Centre.
A PwC spokesperson stated: “Rachael Wilkinson, Toby Banfield and Adam Seres of PwC have been appointed Joint Directors of Koko Networks (UK) Restricted (the Firm).
“The Firm is the UK subsidiary of Koko Networks Restricted Mauritius LLC (KNL). The Group’s Kenyan operations, Koko Networks Restricted (“KNK”) and Koko Networks International Providers (Kenya) Restricted have been formally positioned into an insolvency course of in Kenya on 1 February 2026.
“The Group is a local weather know-how organisation centered on accelerating Africa’s power transition by offering reasonably priced, clear bioethanol cooking gasoline to switch conventional charcoal and kerosene. The Group’s operations in Kenya generated carbon credit, which have been then transferred to the Firm to be offered on the compliance market producing funds to subsidise the Group’s wider operations.
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“The Kenyan authorities has not granted KNK a licence to proceed buying and selling these carbon credit on the compliance market, which meant that the Firm was unable to promote its present carbon credit or any new carbon credit generated.
“Regrettably, consequently the Firm was unable to proceed to function and subsequently has been positioned into an administration course of. A small variety of workers have been retained to help important wind‑down actions, whereas eight have sadly been made redundant upon appointment.”
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