For Fuel and Food
Cassava-powered ethanol for Kenya's roads and kitchens
Who we are
The Galana Biorefinery Complex is Kenya's first fully integrated cassava-to-ethanol platform: 2,000 hectares of feedstock, the Centre for Cassava Excellence at its core, and a 15-million-litre biorefinery in build.
The Centre supplies clean, disease-free planting material, validates Good Cassava Agricultural Practices, and trains farmers to deliver consistent, high-yield feedstock at industrial scale.
Together, the platform converts approximately 95,000 tonnes of fresh cassava into 15 million litres of ethanol every year, supplying Kenya's E10 road fuel blending pool and the clean cooking ethanol market in parallel.
We are building Kenya's first fully integrated cassava-to-ethanol value chain, designed to cut fuel imports, strengthen food security, create rural jobs, and confront climate change at scale.
By farming cassava, a non-staple, drought-tolerant crop, on semi-arid marginal land, we deliver fuel and food security together, without competing with Kenya's staple supply.
We grow sustainable bioeconomies with women at the centre of operations.
What we do
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Soil restoration, intercropping, and circular use of by-products
Cassava cultivation on semi-arid, marginal land
Smallholder farmer partnerships and training with a focus on women farmers
A 15 MLY biorefinery producing fuel-grade ethanol
Road fuel ethanol for Kenya's E10 blend, and clean cooking households
The Challenge
Fuel Import Dependence: Kenya remains heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and energy products, particularly within the transport sector. This reliance exposes the economy to global oil price volatility, foreign exchange pressures, and supply disruptions, while weakening long-term energy security. With the Energy (Biofuels) Regulations 2025 now in force and an E10 blending pathway backed by EPRA, Kenya has the policy framework, but not yet the domestic ethanol supply, to drive a more resilient and locally driven energy future.
Food Insecurity: Across the country, hunger persists even as vast areas of arable and semi-arable land remain underutilised. Climate stress, degraded soils, and limited access to quality planting material and agronomic support suppress productivity, trapping rural communities in cycles of low yields, low incomes, and food insecurity.
Dirty Cooking Fuels: More than 80% of Kenyan households still rely on charcoal and kerosene for daily cooking. These fuels are expensive, unsafe, and highly polluting, driving respiratory illness, disproportionately harming women and children, and accelerating deforestation and climate change.
Environmental Degradation: Charcoal production alone results in the loss of tens of millions of trees each year. Forests are stripped, soils degrade, rainfall patterns become less predictable, and the same communities already facing poverty are pushed further into climate vulnerability.
Our Platform
Homegrown Road Fuel
We convert cassava into fuel-grade ethanol for Kenya's E10 petrol blend, displacing imported fossil fuel with a domestic, renewable alternative. The same platform produces clean cooking ethanol, supporting Kenya's goal of universal clean cooking access by 2028.
Regenerative Agriculture at Scale
We restore degraded land, build soil health, and embed climate-resilient farming practices, growing long-term fuel and food security on the same hectares while increasing farm incomes.
Cassava Seedling Innovation
In partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, our Centre for Cassava Excellence supplies certified, disease-free, drought-tolerant seedlings to farms and outgrowers, locking in the yields a 15-million-litre biorefinery demands.
Women-Centred Growth
Through our Block Farmer Model, women receive production blocks, agronomic training, and guaranteed offtake, turning cassava into a reliable pathway to income, dignity, and economic power.
Our Theory of Change
Food and Fuel
We're ending the food versus fuel debate in Kenya, for good.
When asked food or fuel? Kenya can choose both.
Giraffe Bioenergy is built so the trade-off never appears. We grow a non-staple crop on marginal land, raise productivity with better inputs and training, and lift rural incomes so families can afford better food while the country fuels itself.
Evidence from Kenya's Bioenergy Strategy and Energy (Biofuels) Regulations 2025, alongside well-documented cassava ethanol experience in Thailand and Mozambique, shows that the sector can scale without harming food systems. Done right, it strengthens them, returning value and opportunity to rural Kenya.
This is not a compromise. It is a new paradigm.
Learn more in our White Paper: Energy and Food in Harmony: A New Paradigm for African Biofuels.
Our Leadership Team
Our Kenyan-led team is turning cassava into Kenya's next strategic fuel, with food security woven in. We bring expertise across bioenergy, agriculture, infrastructure, climate finance, and community development.
Corporate Team
Linda Davis, PhD
Founder and CEO
Dr Linda has over 20 years experience in several senior executive positions globally leading biorefinery business departments. She has a PhD Degree in Microbiology specialising in producing ethanol from novel technologies.
Imani Naitore
Executive Assistant
Experienced and resourceful executive assistant with a proven track record of providing high-level administrative support to senior executives.
Field Team
Mbili Mbebe
Agricultural General Manager
Mbili is a highly accomplished and strategic agribusiness leader and farm manager with over 20 years of experience in managing large-scale agricultural operations, including crop production, resource management, and team leadership.
Estate Manager
Charles Wambugu
Charles is a seasoned farm estate manager with over a decade of experience managing agricultural operations, ensuring efficient feedstock supply, operational excellence, and high-performing teams.
Ruth Masika
Lead Trainer and Extension Officer
Ruth has extensive experience in empowering communities with agricultural best practice, having previously worked as a field officer with One Acre Fund. Ruth’s patient guidance and innovative teaching methods, have been a boon to the block farmer program.
Juma Keya
HSE and Performance Analyst
Juma is a leader in the realm of health and safety. He is dedicated to implementing protocols has to enhance not only physical health but also a sense of trust and security among the Giraffe Bioenergy team.
Amina Kazungu
Nursery Supervisor
From the local community, trained at the Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization and experience at Giraffe Bioenergy in novel rapid cassava propagation technologies.
Boniface Mwiti
Lead Machine Operator
Boniface is a highly skilled and detail oriented lead machine operator with a strong technical aptitude and a proven ability to operate, maintain, and optimize complex machinery in fast paced industrial environments.
Our Board
Our Board brings governance, investment, policy, and technical leadership to guide Giraffe Bioenergy’s growth with integrity, accountability, and long-term vision.
Nick Brooks
Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Board
Nick led 25 years at Shell International, establishing and managing ventures across diverse global regions. Since 2005, he's concentrated on renewable energy, founding or joining boards of biofuel/bioenergy firms in Europe, Africa, and China, spanning various value chain segments.
Kanini Mutooni
Non-Executive Director
Kanini is a Venture Partner at Delta40 and a Senior Managing Director at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. As a member of the Foundation’s senior leadership team, she executes the Foundation’s strategy and goals and contributes to its outreach to the African continent from the DRK office in Nairobi.
Linda Davis, PhD
Executive Director
Dr Linda Davis brings. over 20 years experience in several senior executive positions globally leading biorefinery business departments. She has a PhD Degree in Microbiology specialising in producing ethanol from novel technologies, and a background in consulting and business operations.
Our Work
In the heart of Kilifi, Kenya, we are building a new model for rural transformation, growing cassava at scale to produce homegrown ethanol for Kenya's road fuel blend and clean cooking households..
At the centre of our work is the Centre for Cassava Excellence, where cassava becomes a catalyst for change: improving livelihoods, advancing climate-smart agriculture, and placing women at the forefront of innovation and leadership.
We believe energy independence, food security, and clean cooking are essential to a resilient Kenya, and we are forging a greener, more prosperous path forward through innovation, partnership, and community-led action.
In this video, we explore how Giraffe Bioenergy is transforming cassava into clean, renewable fuel.
Discover how a humble root is powering Kenya's clean energy transition, displacing imported petrol and replacing charcoal and firewood with safe, affordable ethanol that supports livelihoods and protects forests.
Through this story, the film shows how locally grown cassava is helping Kenya build energy solutions that are better for people, forests, and the climate.
In this video, we share how Giraffe Bioenergy is empowering local women through innovative, sustainable bioenergy solutions.
See how our work is advancing homegrown fuel while creating meaningful opportunities for women to lead, earn, and thrive within their communities.
Through their voices and experiences, the film highlights women who are transforming their lives and the landscapes around them, with the support of Giraffe Bioenergy.
Media
Africa’s clean energy projects face high capital costs, making them up to four times more expensive than in the US or Europe. In The Flip's The Greenprint, our Founder & CEO, Linda Davis, PhD, discusses the challenges of scaling renewable energy in Africa and how to close the climate funding gap.
Our Founder and CEO Dr Linda Davis, and Professor David Luke, Professor in Practice and Strategic Director at the LSE Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, explore how innovation, trade policy, and local entrepreneurship can move Africa from dependence to resilience — transforming farms into engines of food security, climate-smart growth, and sustainable prosperity — on the Afri-CAN Podcast.
Our Partners
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