Now aged 25, Otula is CEO of Vuma Biofuels and is in discussions with the UN Refugee Agency the UNHCR to extend the use of sugar-cane biomass energy to refugees in Kenya.
There are about 500,000 refugee households in Kenya, mainly from Somalia and South Sudan, making the country Africa’s second-largest refugee host. A solution is needed quickly, as refugees are mostly using smuggled wood and charcoal for heating, says Otula.