January marked a strong and reflective start to 2026, a true inflection year for SokoFresh. We began the year with momentum and ambition, targeting 4X growth as demand for our solar-powered cold storage and market-access services continues to rise among farmers and off-takers. This demand reflects a larger shift: food systems are changing, and Africa sits at the center of that change.
Why Africa, Why Now
Africa remains one of the world’s most important food frontiers. As climate pressures intensify globally, the continent holds much of the world’s untapped arable land and enormous potential for sustainable agriculture. East Africa, in particular, is well positioned to expand horticultural production and exports to Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. This is where the next generation of globally relevant food businesses will be built and scaled.
Kenya’s broader agriculture ecosystem is also evolving, with innovations and partnerships emerging to reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen market access, critical for smallholder prosperity. Policymakers and organizations are increasingly supporting digital and technical partnerships to improve food security and farmer incomes across the country. The horticultural industry in Kenya is a $1.06B sector, with smallholder and medium-sized farms contributing more than 60%. This demonstrates the huge growth potential that is driving our expansion as we serve these two segments.
A Moment to Reflect and Realign
January provided a natural moment to pause, reflect, and refine our approach. As part of this, SokoFresh continued the rollout of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a framework that has brought clarity, focus, and alignment across the organization.
What has changed?
- Our values moved from words on the wall to principles we actively live by
- Teams aligned around a shared purpose and clear priorities
- Meetings became more effective and action-oriented
- Our niche, direction, and ambitions sharpened
The result is a more focused, disciplined, and energized SokoFresh team.
More Than a Food Business
SokoFresh started as a fast-growing food and agriculture company, but today, we are more than that. We operate at the intersection of food, energy, cooling, data, and embedded finance, enabling farmers and businesses to participate fully in modern markets.
At the heart of this model is energy access:
Each SokoFresh cold room is powered by a 7kWh solar system, effectively acting as a mobile mini-grid for a 5-metric-ton cold room.
We operate across 17 counties in Kenya, with plans to deploy 100 additional cold rooms over the next 18 months.
Notable Cold Room Deployments in January
This month, we installed a cold room at a herbs farm, demonstrating how solar-powered cold storage can be applied even in urban and peri-urban areas. The unit helps farmers preserve freshness while using clean, renewable energy, showing the versatility of climate-smart cooling solutions.
We also deployed a cold room to a large-scale FMCG distributor in the coastal region, which performed exceptionally well despite the high January temperatures. This deployment highlights the critical role of solar-powered cold storage in hot climates, ensuring product quality, minimizing spoilage, and supporting reliable food supply chains.
These installations reflect the real-world impact of climate-smart cooling infrastructure, helping farmers and distributors maintain quality and reduce losses.
Our vision is simple but powerful: a future where farmers can find and rent a cold room nearby, and where excess solar power supports rural mobility and other productive uses. This is Mission 300 in action, moving from electrons to jobs, incomes, and scalable impact across rural and urban communities in East Africa.
Sharing Our Work & Recognition
In January, SokoFresh’s work was featured on several respected platforms:
Rockefeller Foundation – Showcasing innovation at the farm level and scaling solar-powered agriculture solutions. Click to read more
Devex – Highlighting SokoFresh in global development discussions on resilient food systems. Click to read more.
Tony Ndungu (LinkedIn spotlight) – Featuring our work through a tech and entrepreneurship lens. LinkedIn Link.
TechnoServe – Inclusion in the Export Readiness Playbook, highlighting our role in expanding horticultural export. Click to read more.
These features reflect a growing recognition of the importance of cold chains and clean energy in building resilient food systems across Africa.
Important Regional Momentum
January also saw broader developments supporting our mission:
The World Bank approved a $50M initiative to expand solar-powered agricultural solutions, including solar cold storage, across multiple African countries. This program aligns with Mission 300, emphasizing the importance of climate-smart infrastructure for food security and farmer income.
Such initiatives signal growing confidence from global partners in technologies and business models like ours, not just in Kenya but across the continent.
Looking Ahead
SokoFresh has always grown through strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations. Looking forward, the future calls for bolder collaborations, the right long-term capital, and continued focus.
January set the tone. The year ahead is about execution, scale, and impact.