Kofa, Africa’s leading battery-swapping network, has partnered with The Revival Earth, a Ghanaian non-profit focused on textile waste and upcycling, to provide local traders with reliable, low-cost electricity while promoting circular practices in one of West Africa’s largest informal markets.
The partnership, launched over a two-day activation on September 19–20, 2025, addresses two intertwined challenges. Kantamanto receives approximately 15 million garments each week, with up to 40% rendered unsellable due to poor quality or damage, contributing to a growing textile waste crisis. Discarded clothing clogs drains, overburdens landfills, and pollutes nearby waterways, creating environmental and public health risks. Simultaneously, traders and tailors operating in the market face unreliable grid access, relying on petrol or diesel generators that cost GHS 80–100 daily, generate harmful fumes, produce noise pollution, and frequently break down, cutting productivity and increasing operating costs.
Kofa’s solution places a battery swap station directly within the market, offering a clean, quiet, and cost-effective alternative to fossil-fuel generators. Traders can power sewing machines, lighting, fans, and other tools without the associated environmental or health impacts. The Revival Earth manages the station, ensuring skills transfer and fostering local ownership, while also demonstrating the intersection of energy access and circular economy principles.
The launch event also unveiled The Revival Earth Showroom & Atelier, a creative space entirely powered by Kofa batteries. Market visitors experienced live upcycling demonstrations, interactive installations, and workshops illustrating how clean energy can support sustainable fashion practices. The Revival Earth also launched its Upcycling Club, a grassroots initiative uniting tailors, artists, and young creatives committed to rethinking textile waste through craft and collaboration.
Over the next year, the partnership aims to expand battery-swapping access, host regular workshops, and engage more traders to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy. The project is positioned as a scalable model, offering lessons that could extend beyond Ghana to informal markets across the region, linking renewable energy deployment with circular economy principles to strengthen local enterprises and environmental stewardship.
