China–Africa Project Matchmaking Report: Retailing Solar Cookers in Zimbabwe

Prepared by: Feihan Li 

Chinese Company: Shanghai Rongean Technologies Co., Ltd. (China)
Focus Entrepreneur and Zimbabwean Company: Irvine Jonga, Founder, Olkast Investments (Zimbabwe)

Executive Overview

This report aims to analyze the feasibility and construct a business structure in response to the China–Africa project matchmaking theme. The two target companies are Olkast Investments in Zimbabwe, founded by Irvine Jonga, and Rongean, where the cooperation will focus chiefly on the retail, assembly, and distribution of Sunflower solar cookers in Zimbabwe. 

The cooperation carries both a business and charitable mission to alleviate chronic cholera outbreaks and energy shortages in Zimbabwe. Specifically, given the market’s low saturation and high-level demand, this cooperation not only deals with solving WASH-related public health problems, but also aims to leverage Irvine Jonga’s multi-sector footprint (telecoms, mining, farming) to build a commercially viable, socially impactful sales and service network.

Regarding the China-Zimbabwe cooperation, Rongean would predominantly handle the manufacturing and international shipping aspect, while Irvine from Olkast would handle the assembling, retailing, and marketing processes with initial rollouts in various regions of Zimbabwe, including Mutoko, UMP, and Marondera.

In short, Rongean’s Sunflower Solar cooker is a lightweight, affordable, and mass producible solar device designed for off-grid cooking and safe-water boiling. Proposed retail pricing of USD 150, a 10-year lifespan, output power of 500W, and a typical household payback of 12 months position the product for rapid adoption in energy-stressed communities, especially in rural and peri-urban markets.

Background Information

Zimbabwe desperately needs an affordable solution for its electricity shortage, where the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency disclosed that “95 percent of rural households in Zimbabwe cook with firewood (Accesscoalition, 2024).” Furthermore, Gallucci reported that, “Over two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s 16.2 million people live in rural areas, and roughly 80 percent of those residents can’t access electricity (Gallucci, 2022).” Given that 95% of the population in Zimbabwe has a monthly average income of around USD 70 (Sengere, 2023), even the cost of cooking with firewood is considered to be expensive, chiefly due to the enactment of anti-deforestation laws, people had to buy firewood in markets, costing around USD 1 per day. 

In recent years, the development of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels was thought to have potential in solving the crisis, but that a “3kW solar system in Zimbabwe will cost from around $2,500 for a simple installation (Sona Solar, 2025)” makes it unaffordable for the majority of the population.

Zimbabwe Solar Viability

Chiteka et al. finds that, “Zimbabwe is a southern African country with abundant solar radiation with an annual global horizontal irradiance of 1857 kWh/m2 to 2257 kWh/m2 and an average of 6.7 to 8.9 sun hours per day (Chiteka et al., 2024).” The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority furthers that “the country has a huge solar photovoltaic (PV) irradiation potential of 109GW and a concentrated solar power estimated potential of 39,5GW (HeliosCSP, 2023).”