As part of efforts to promote clean energy and reduce household air pollution, Mente Foundation has launched Project Green Flame, with the installation of clean cookstoves at Mother Theresa Children’s Home in Abuja.

The foundation while using the project as a pilot to generate evidence and build local capacity for scaling clean cooking solutions across Nigeria and Africa. also pledged to fund the fuel powering the cook stove in the orphanage home

Speaking at the launch, Founder of Mente Energy and Chair of Mente Foundation, Tolu Osekita, said the initiative was designed to address the health, environmental and economic consequences of traditional cooking methods that rely on firewood and charcoal.

According to him, nearly one billion people across Africa still cook without access to clean cooking technologies, exposing women and children to harmful smoke linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

He said the foundation would monitor the impact of the project by measuring improvements in air quality, fuel consumption, cost savings and the performance of the cookstoves in daily use at the orphanage home.

“We are starting in Nigeria, in one children’s home, because real change begins somewhere real and measurable, but our ambition is Pan-African. Project Green Flame is the first step of many,” Osekita said.

Director of Mente Foundation, Fisayo Balogun, said Mother Theresa Children’s Home was selected because it cares for vulnerable children who are particularly at risk from indoor air pollution.

He said the foundation aimed to develop a model that could be replicated in institutions across Nigeria and the continent.

Medical Doctor at the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE), Dr. Kingdom Perelade, said dependence on charcoal and open-fire cooking posed serious long-term health risks to millions of Nigerians and called for greater advocacy for cleaner energy sources.

Managing Director of Mother Theresa Children’s Home, Catherine Emeagwali, commended the foundation for supporting the home, saying the intervention would improve the health and welfare of both the children and staff while reducing fuel costs.

The foundation said Project Green Flame aligns with Nigeria’s National Clean Cooking Policy and seeks to demonstrate practical, evidence-based solutions that can accelerate the adoption of clean cooking technologies across the country.