By Ebunoluwa Sessou

Nigeria faces an estimated $256 billion post-harvest loss annually due to inadequate cold chain infrastructure. Eja Ice, a solar-powered refrigeration and logistics company, is stepping in to change this narrative with innovative cooling solutions across the food value chain.

At the launch of its solar-powered cooling van, the Chief Executive Officer of Eja Ice, Mr. Yusuf Oladipupo, revealed that the company’s mission is to provide integrated cold chain services from farm to retail.

“Without proper cooling infrastructure, farmers, processors, and distributors suffer huge losses. We have created solutions for aggregation, storage, logistics, and retail to keep food fresh and safe,” Oladipupo said.

Nigeria produces about 1.2 million metric tons of fish yearly, but a large portion goes to waste. While 350,000 metric tons come from aquaculture and 850,000 from open fishing, the country still imports about 2.1 million metric tons to meet demand. This dependency worsens pressure on foreign exchange.

“Reducing waste will boost food security, cut forex demand for imports, and create export opportunities. We started from solar-powered fridges, moved to cooling tricycles, and now cooling vans. This investment is to build Nigeria’s cold chain infrastructure,” he added.

To ease access to these assets, Eja Ice partnered with Greenmax Capital and Nigerian banks to provide financing with a ₦2.5 billion first-loss guarantee, enabling small businesses to own freezers and vans without upfront cost.

The company plans to deploy solar-powered electric vans by November and invest in EV charging stations nationwide. It is also setting up backhouse facilities for processing and export under NEPC and IATA certifications.

Operations Manager, Mrs. Barakat Badmus, noted that Eja Ice offers cold rooms, solar-powered vans, tricycles, and freezers to support last-mile delivery. She added that the innovation began in 2018 after the founder encountered a fish seller struggling with spoilage.

Eja Ice’s end-to-end solar-powered cold chain aims to curb losses, empower agribusinesses, and position Nigeria for self-sufficiency and export growth.