Emmastella Gakuo is revolutionising Africa’s dairy industry with solar-powered cooling and digital management solutions.
In rural Kenya, dairy farmers have long struggled with a persistent problem: poor milk preservation systems. Without proper cold chain infrastructure, millions of litres go bad each year before reaching the market, costing farmers income and wasting their hard work. It is this challenge that inspired Emmastella Gakuo, a young entrepreneur and co-founder of Savanna Circuit Technologies, to dedicate her career to finding a solution.
As Chief Operations Officer, Emmastella Gakuo is dedicated to creating affordable, scalable technology tailored to local needs. She champions shared value models that prioritise community benefits. Her responsibilities include not only product development but also business operations, strategy, branding, partnerships, and project management.
Gakuo’s influence extends to advocacy, where she promotes climate-smart policies, food safety, and the broader adoption of renewable energy in agriculture. Acknowledged as a Royal Academy Fellow and climate-tech strategist, she frequently speaks on platforms that showcase Africa’s capacity for innovative and sustainable progress.
Leading with innovation and purpose
Savanna Circuit Technologies was established in 2017 after Gakuo, then a student at the University of Nairobi, met her co-founder, Percy Lemtukei. Both had observed how smallholder farmers, despite their efforts, often lose significant amounts of milk due to the lack of affordable methods to keep it fresh during transportation.
Thus, they started experimenting with renewable energy, artificial intelligence, and waste management, eventually creating a groundbreaking innovation: portable solar-powered milk chillers. These chillers could be mounted on motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and trucks, enabling milk to be cooled immediately after collection and kept fresh during transit. What initially began as a university project soon evolved into a company manufacturing affordable, community-oriented technology for the dairy industry.
Today, Savanna Circuit designs and produces a range of solar chillers, from mini models of 100 to 250 litres mounted on motorcycles, to 800-litre chillers installed on tuk-tuks, and large 3,000-litre bulk chillers mounted on trucks. The company also builds chiller rooms and dairy management software that enables data tracking, quality control, and financial inclusion.
Rather than selling the equipment outright, Savanna Circuit uses a Cooling as a Service model, leasing the chillers to farmers and cooperatives who would otherwise be unable to afford them. This approach ensures that smallholder farmers, many of whom are women and youth, can access advanced cooling technology without heavy upfront costs.
The impact has been significant. Since its inception, Savanna Circuit has reached more than 22,000 smallholder farmers across 10 dairy zones in Kenya. Their technologies have preserved approximately 2.4 million litres of milk that would otherwise have spoiled, directly improving incomes and reducing losses.
Farmers not only earn more but also benefit from better milk quality and safety standards, which allows them to compete more effectively in the market. Women and youth, who make up a large portion of the rural farming workforce, have particularly benefited from access to these innovations, enabling them to participate more fully in the dairy value chain.
Emmastella Gakuo has consistently championed innovation and sustainability in the Kenyan dairy inhas received numerous awards, including the Standard Chartered Women in Tech Award, the Kenya Top Innovator Award, and the EDF Pulse Africa Award. These accolades reflect her position not just as an entrepreneur, but as a leading voice in Africa’s climate-tech and agri-tech space.
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