Africa Centre
Kigali, Rwanda
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES)
At the Clean Cooling Network, we aspire to be a central and valued player driving the development of Africa’s cold-chain and cooling sector while creating approaches and solutions that can be referenced, replicated, and adapted globally.
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) based in Kigali, Rwanda, serves as the first regional Hub under the Clean Cooling Network, with plans for other locations across the continent, and beyond.
Key Facilities at ACES
- A state-of-the-art in-market technology test and demonstration centre;
- Fully equipped refrigeration equipment (including refrigerants);
- A quality, safety, and postharvest management laboratory to conduct tests to evaluate and monitor quality, safety and storability potential of local crops, guaranteeing that they meet international and established standards;
- Renovated conference hall and classrooms;
- Model, fully working Smart Farm that will allow research of cooling in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus and wider climate adaptation challenges, including diversifying crop cultivation for increased farmers’ income and more resilient, sustainable food systems, which will inform scaling of approaches to broader farming communities and food systems;
- Collaborative undergraduate and teaching facilities established at IPRC Kigali.
Take a tour of ACES
Rwanda
ACES is housed on a five hectare campus with an adjacent 200 hectare farm in Kigali, Rwanda. Collaborative research, new equipment testing, and the development of knowledge training programmes and robust business models takes place here.
ACES
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) was established to:
- Reduce food and vaccine wastage and loss
- Economically empower subsistence and smallholder farmers and their communities
- Lessen the potential environmental impact of the cold-chain
Reference SPOKE
Kenya is our reference SPOKE, attached to ACES in partnership with ACTS. Following the development and success of this first SPOKE, we are in discussion with other countries across Africa, including Senegal and Lesotho.
Reference SPOKE - Kenya
The first SPecialised Outreach and Knowledge Establishment (SPOKE) is in Kenya. Kenya is the reference SPOKE through which we are designing the SPOKE programme, building the delivery team and developing the toolkits for our reference and replicate model.
The SPOKE team provides the essential enabling mechanisms, tools, technology selection, business model, governance and operational systems, and the targeted training necessary to support community leaders and the wider community. This will help establish a grassroots, community cold-chain ecosystem and integrate cold-chain into their operations.
The SPOKE programme works in three phases, taking a journey from initial community partnership scoping in Phase 0, then through Phase 1 establishing the engagement framework and support ecosystem, and finally in Phase 2 implementing the Try Before You Buy model on-the-ground and proving practical viability
As an example of the programme’s success, the Lari cooperative, our first community SPOKE in Kenya, has been able to aggregate its produce through its cold-chain and market its top-quality produce to higher-end markets.
They earn, on average, over 50% higher returns for their produce than previously.
Essential reading
ACES graduate hopes to become Rwanda’s leading supplier of rabbit meat
17th Nov 2025
Albertine Uwajeneza, a cold chain technician and rabbit farmer from Muhanga, Rwanda, is hoping to use cold chain technology to supply rabbit meat to upmarket bars, restaurants and supermarkets across the country.
Optimising the Vaccine Cold-Chain for Resilient Immunisation in Africa
14th Nov 2025
We are helping to pioneer climate-smart and data-driven approaches to optimise vaccine cold-chain performance and strengthen One Health resilience.
Inspired by the CCN’s Cold-Chain for Global Health Programme
12th Nov 2025
By combining observation, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Cold-Chain for Global Health trainees are forging a bold path forward, reflecting and replicating newly learned innovative models to develop actionable, scalable systems in their local contexts.
Sustainable Cold-Chain For The Global South 2025
3rd Nov 2025
Investigating how we have set out to holistically understand and cover all bases, from designing food and planning health corridors, future energy strategies, and climate risk mitigations, to pulling value back to farming communities, training engineers and technicians, and understanding overall value.
"Born in Rwanda but pan-Africa in Vision": 2026 - Putting words into practice through The ACES SPOKE programme.
31st Oct 2025
Our overarching objective is to combine training, support and technology demonstration to accelerate the deployment of sustainable, resilient and equitable cold-chains across the Global South.
A Cool World: What to expect and what I am excited about!
17th Oct 2025
Dr. Tim Fox discusses what he's most looking forward to at "A Cool World: Sustainable Cold-Chain for the Global South" conference.
