How to Win the Earthshot Prize

Meet Charlot Mayugi
If you are a poor girl growing up in the slums of Nairobi, orphaned at 10, and a teenage mother at 16, your life is filled with struggle. That was Charlot Maguyi’s life -- dropping out of school and struggling to survive by buying and selling charcoal as fuel to cook meals for herself and her daughter. One day, her two-year-old daughter suffered burns from the stove. Charlot started to think about finding a safer way to cook. She also wanted to find a way to reduce the smoke that was known to contribute to respiratory problems.
Long story short, Charlot got back into school in 2017 when she founded Mukuru Clean Stoves. Her company is woman-led and managed. They design, manufacture, and distribute improved cookstoves to low-income communities. The stoves are made from recycled waste metal and use charcoal, wood, and sugar cane biofuels. They address three problems: excessive fuel consumption, household air pollution, and childhood burn injuries.

If you are a poor girl growing up in the slums of Nairobi, no one expects you to become a Founder and CEO of a profitable enterprise in your twenties. At 29, Charlot Maguyi was awarded one of the five 2022 Earthshot Prizes, "Clean our air," for her work in reducing air pollution.
Environmental Voices Rising celebrates and congratulates Charlot Maguyi!
What is the Earthshot Prize?
