Driving Tanzania's Clean Cooking Transition at the 2026 Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair

Against this backdrop, TaTEDO-Sustainable Energy Services Organization (TaTEDO-SESO) and social enterprise SESCOM Limited took part with a clear purpose: to show, in practical terms, how modern clean cooking and renewable energy technologies can improve livelihoods, ease pressure on Tanzania’s forests, strengthen household energy security, and advance the country’s sustainable development agenda.

Over two weeks, the two organizations turned their exhibition spaces into working demonstration centres, not showrooms. Government leaders, development partners, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, students, researchers, community organizations, and households seeking affordable, reliable clean cooking options all passed through, many staying to watch, ask questions, and buy.

Innovation You Could Taste

Rather than simply displaying products, TaTEDO-SESO and SESCOM focused on proving how clean cooking technologies solve everyday problems for Tanzanian households and institutions. Visitors saw live demonstrations of Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs), air fryers, energy-efficient cooking accessories, and improved charcoal cookstoves — modern practices that cut both cooking time and energy use.

Each day, the team prepared local meals, from pilau and rice to grilled meats and vegetables, entirely on electric appliances, giving visitors a direct, sensory answer to the question that so often stalls clean cooking adoption: does it actually work as well as what I use now? These demonstrations consistently drew the largest crowds of the day and sparked genuine conversation about switching to cleaner household energy.

When people experience clean cooking technology firsthand, they quickly recognize its economic, health, and environmental value for themselves.

Strength in Numbers, Strength in Partnership

Demonstration of how to cook ugali in the EPC to customers at the TANESCO pavilion

A defining feature of this year’s participation was its collaborative footprint. TaTEDO-SESO and SESCOM exhibited alongside key national institutions — the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), the Rural Energy Agency (REA), and the Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS) — demonstrating in one place how electricity access, forest conservation, consumer awareness, policy, and private-sector innovation reinforce one another in Tanzania’s clean cooking transition.

That collaborative presence paid off. Momentum built steadily through the first week and surged around themed event days, including a Ministry of Energy workshop marking Energy Day and a dedicated TFS Day, both held on 10 July, when visitor traffic across the shared pavilions climbed past 700 people in a single day — the highest of the exhibition. Live cooking demonstrations, TANESCO’s own promotional days, and weekend foot traffic produced similarly strong peaks throughout the fair.

Notably, women made up a clear majority of visitors across nearly every reporting day, a pattern that confirms what TaTEDO-SESO’s programming has long recognized: household cooking decisions, and the transition to cleaner energy, sit squarely with women, making them the organization’s most important audience for both demonstration and behaviour change.

The shared-pavilion model also opened doors beyond the exhibition floor, strengthening existing institutional relationships and creating new openings with government agencies, development partners, private companies, financial institutions, civil society organizations, and prospective investors.

Growing Public Confidence in Electric Cooking

Interest translated into action. Many visitors who arrived simply to learn left as customers, after watching a live demonstration and receiving hands-on technical guidance from the exhibition team. Electric Pressure Cookers (6L and 8L), air fryers, stainless-steel inner pots, and improved charcoal stoves were the standout performers, with sales rising noticeably around weekends and themed event days.

This is more than an exhibition success story. It reflects a broader shift already underway in Tanzania’s cooking energy sector, where expanding electricity access, rising consumer awareness, and supportive government policy are converging to make clean cooking technologies a realistic choice for more households.

Beyond Sales: Building Long-Term Impact

SESCOM staff explaining eCooking services to customers at the REA pavilion

Product sales mattered, but they were not the exhibition’s greatest value. For TaTEDO-SESO, Sabasaba served as a platform to:

• Raise public awareness of clean cooking and renewable energy
• Promote behaviour change toward safer, more efficient cooking practices
• Demonstrate practical climate solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Strengthen relationships with strategic partners and development stakeholders
• Gather market intelligence to sharpen future products and services
• Inspire households, institutions, and entrepreneurs to adopt sustainable energy solutions

These outcomes align directly with Tanzania’s National Clean Cooking Strategy and the country’s wider commitments to sustainable development, climate resilience, and universal access to modern energy.

Lessons for an Even Stronger 2027

Every exhibition is also a learning exercise, and this one was no exception. Looking ahead to Sabasaba 2027, TaTEDO-SESO and SESCOM will focus on strengthening digital customer registration and follow-up so that interest generated on the exhibition floor converts into long-term relationships; expanding product stock to meet peak demand without interruption; increasing bilingual promotional materials; sharpening digital marketing before and during the fair; and introducing more structured performance monitoring to measure impact well beyond closing day.

These refinements will help TaTEDO-SESO and SESCOM get even more out of future exhibitions, not only as platforms for awareness, but as engines of sustained market growth and deeper strategic partnership.

Looking Ahead

TaTEDO-SESO staff demonstrating eCooking appliances and services at the TFS pavilion

As Tanzania accelerates implementation of its clean cooking agenda, TaTEDO-SESO remains committed to working alongside government, development partners, financial institutions, the private sector, and local communities to make modern cooking technologies accessible, affordable, and widely adopted. Through research, policy engagement, capacity development, market facilitation, technology promotion, and private-sector partnerships, TaTEDO-SESO will continue to position itself among Tanzania’s leading institutions driving the transition to sustainable energy.

SESCOM complements this mission on the ground, ensuring that high-quality clean cooking technologies reach households and institutions through reliable supply chains, technical support, and after-sales service.

Together, the two organizations see expanding access to modern cooking solutions as more than an energy issue — it is a pathway to better health, environmental protection, women’s empowerment, climate action, economic growth, and sustainable development.