German start-up company Solarbakery has plans to facilitate the opening of a new artisanal bakery in Senegal as early as the end of March, delivering fresh, tasty bread that is produced CO2-neutrally with solar power.

The bakery will be completely set up in a container and shipped to the West African country from Munich by Solarbakery, whose founder Simon Zimmermann, along with partner Torsten Schreiber developed a bakery that could be operated independently of the local infrastructure and at the same time protect the environment by using renewable energy.

Solarbakery’s pilot project, a container bakery in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, has proven to be very popular, generating $128,000 in revenue in its first year of business and financing a local primary school with its surplus.

This school and bakery project were implemented in cooperation with Solarbakery’s non-profit partner Ya Bana Global Care e.V.

The goal is the long-term self-preservation of the project through the surplus of the container bakery, which represents a local source of income.

Since the primary school is operated free of charge and dependence on donations should be avoided, the container bakery was developed as a solution.

All operating costs of the school are covered by the surplus of the bakery, making the school and bakery project in D.R. Congo independent, which means that it can maintain and develop itself.