Asifiwe Mukashema found a second use for her induction cookstove. She bought it for her household cooking needs, but soon realised she could cut costs by using it to cook at her small hotel ‘ kibanda’, where she serves local dishes to her community and humanitarian workers in the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement.

Every morning she walks a few metres from home to her business with her cookstove in hand and carries it back in the evening, a small ritual that has become part of her daily rhythm, keeping both her household and her business running smoothly.

Since bringing the stove into her business, her customer numbers have grown. Compared to the other small hotels nearby using charcoal and wood, her food stands out for being clean and smoke-free. "They say my food is clean and they can comfortably sit in my hotel and eat because there is no smoke," she says.

The induction cookstove has also changed her mornings. She can prepare breakfast quickly and serve it to her customers while it's still fresh, something her customers have come to rely on. That reliability has built trust and her customers now place orders and pick up food on the go.

Asifiwe has cut the time she used to prepare her business breakfast in half, she has breakfast ready from as early as 07:00 A.M something that she says has given her a business advantage over the competitors who still use charcoal and wood, as they start selling their breakfasts at 09:00 A.M.

At home, the cookstove has been such an asset. But what Asifiwe values most is how easily her daughter can use the cookstove. On days when she's too tired from work to cook, she asks her daughter to prepare her own meal. "I have no fears when my daughter is using it, I know she can’t get burns", she says.

The cookstove has greatly improved her profits and improved her life. Asifiwe says she loves that she is now able to afford good meals and good clothes for her daughter and has future aspirations of expanding her business.