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DANIR 2024 | Our involvement 86

There she met Per Löfberg and Mattias Ohlson. ge helps me in my role in the business,” says Marion
They shared a common vision of addressing life’s about running a company in Zambia.
questions and the dream of being able to do work
that improves the world and helps the less fortunate. They started the business in February 2014 and
They wanted to make a difference where it was have since grown to employ 104 people, offering
really needed. And that was the start of a friend- numerous job opportunities. They have also become
ship that a few years later would result in Emerging known at government level as a company with
Cooking Solutions. Their vision is to revolutionise genuine commitment and a business idea that is
cooking over an open fire with charcoal or wood. An economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable.
The company has developed a stove that burns
“ I have always been passionate pellets made from by-products from the sawmill
about understanding people, industry, among other sources. A by-product that
understanding cultures, and there is plenty of, ensuring that their pellet produc-
learning something from them.” tion maintains good quality and that the availability
of pellets is secure for all those who have switched
– Marion Peterson to the SupaMoto pellet stove.

energy source that is not only bad for the environ- “It probably took three to four years to prove
ment but also for the health of those cooking. ourselves here in the country, both to customers, the
Around the world, more people die from smoky authorities and the government. To prove that we
cooking over an open fire than from malaria. So, it is were not just another ‘white’ company with a project
a real and urgent health problem. At the same time, that would do something good and then disappear,”
charcoal production contributes to deforestation, says Marion about the perseverance and knowledge
which has catastrophic consequences for whole of the people, culture, and business climate required
societies and the environment. to become a natural part of the community.

The three friends decided to start a business in Understanding the culture and lifestyle in Zambia
Zambia that would not only provide cleaner cooking
conditions but also create employment and become
a sustainable part of the community. It was the
government in Lusaka that called for sustainable
ideas for Zambian businesses.

About eleven years ago, Marion and Mattias deci-
ded to move to Zambia to be able to run Emerging
Cooking Solutions on-site. In the shared dream of
working for something good, they also found each
other. And over the past eleven years, they have
built a life in Zambia. They live there with their son
Davy, who is twelve, their dog Sierra, and two cats,
in a house outside Lusaka.

“I have always been passionate about understan-
ding people, understanding cultures, and learning
something from them. And I see how that knowled-