Kenyan entrepreneur Dismus Kishil and his business Solar Freeze have been awarded the 2022 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. UCLA Environment and Sustainability Institute.
Kisiliu’s company rents solar-powered coolers to reduce waste, curb its carbon footprint and improve the marketability of crops on small rural farms in Kenya. He was honored at a ceremony held at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center on November 10.
“For the small farmers I work with, this is for you,” said Kishil.
of Pritzker Prizeis announced every year with a prize pool of $100,000. $20 million gift From the Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation to UCLA. This is the first major honor in the field specifically for innovators under the age of 40 – those in a position to benefit most from the prize money and the prestige it brings.
Kisilu co-founded Solar Freeze in 2018, bringing solar-powered cold storage to small farms in Kenya. This has enabled us to reduce food waste without increasing our carbon footprint. Storage units built using old shipping containers allow farmers to store perishable produce inexpensively, allowing them to sell their crops at a higher price during peak production periods, maximizing profits. I can.
The company aims to further its mission with a new mobile app and expansion to other parts of Africa.
Kisilu was appointed by Jaime Carlson, Senior Strategy and Investment Advisor to Softbank Energy, a business that promotes renewable energy adoption. Carlson said he was impressed by the way Kisilu “thinks deeply and thoughtfully” to create solutions that fit community and market conditions.
The Pritzker Prize was launched in 2017, the first in-person presentation since 2019. The 2020 and his 2021 events were streamed online due to the pandemic. The 2022 Awards Ceremony kicked off early in the day with a series of discussions between UCLA experts and international environmental leaders.
Marilyn Raphael, Director of the UCLA Institute for Environment and Sustainability, paid tribute to Kishil and the other nominees, as well as other innovators and academics who attended the ceremony.
“You have already impacted many lives. What you do every day will impact lives and inspire environmental heroes for generations to come,” she said.
The remaining two finalists for the award were Resson Kantai Duff, a conservationist who promotes understanding and stewardship of nature in communities surrounded by lions. and Tiana Williams Clausen, director of the Yurok Wildlife Division, who is helping restore wildlife to the Yurok lands around the Klamath River.
Damon Shiruri
From left, Marilyn Rafael of the UCLA Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Pritzker Prize finalist Tiana Williams Clausen and Tony Pritzker at the 2022 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award ceremony Dismas Kishil.
The distinguished jury that chose Kisilu as this year’s winner was made up of Amazon’s Global Sustainability Officer, Kara Hurst. Anousheh Ansari, CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation. Chanel Fletcher, Deputy Enforcer for Environmental Justice at the California Air Resources Board. Lori Garver, CEO of Earthrise Media. Ida Levine, Chief Policy and Regulatory Expert on the Impact Investing Institute Board of Directors, said:
Kisilu’s honor was presented by Tony Pritzker, founder of the award and a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
“The purpose of all of this is to honor you at a great point in your life, to give you the opportunity to take it to the next level,” Pritzker said.
