Kyle Schutter didn’t always dream of working with cow dung, but he knew that he wanted to work with renewable energy. From his first job manicuring neighbors’ lawns in America, he crossed oceans to Kenya to land his dream of working in energy.

His company, Takamoto Biogas, is delivering modern energy to people who don’t have it by turning cow dung into cooking fuel. He says “modern energy is fundamental to creating social change in the world.”

Schutter says he believes that the world’s energy resources will run out in the next few hundred years or so. Takamoto Biogas is creating a modern energy source, he says.

The name Takamoto is a fusion of two Swahili words — taka, meaning waste or want, and moto, meaning heat or fire.

The company installs biogas digesters and cooking stoves equipped with mobile money integrated meters. The technology is revolutionary, Schutter said, and allows clients to pay for the biogas they need which is then released by the metering system until its cash equivalent is depleted.

Schutter spoke to AFKInsider about how he is working towards his vision of creating a world where all people have access to the energy they need in a way that improves the environment.

AFKI: What was your first job?

Kyle Schutter: I used to mow the lawns of neighbors when I was about 15. They would have a mower and I would just go to their houses and mow the lawn for them.

AFKI: How did you find your way to Kenya for social entrepreneurship?

Kyle Schutter: Well, I can tell you I didn’t always dream of working with cow dung, but I can say I always wanted to work in energy. I thought renewable energy was import for the future so I thought I wanted to get Ph.D., do the research and then start a company in seven years or so.

Then I found out about biogas and I thought, I could get a Ph.D. and know what I will be doing for the next five years or start a company in Africa and not know what I will be doing in the next six months! I got an internship in Ghana, and after a week it didn’t work out, so I started travelling on my own.

After travelling through Uganda and Rwanda, I booked a ticket to Kenya and from there back to Nigeria, but I never used the ticket back to Nigeria.

Kenya was the right place to start a business and I have been here ever since. Kenya is a country with very entrepreneurial-spirited people, good banking and great support sectors such as transport and manufacturing. It just had a good vibe.

AFKI: What is Takamoto Biogas all about?

Kyle Schutter: Takamoto Biogas is about delivering modern energy to people who currently don’t have it because modern energy is fundamental to creating social change in the world.

I want other people to achieve their dreams and in order to do that they need to have a cooking fuel that doesn’t take 30 minutes just to light, and a chaff cutter that cuts the hay for them so they can be focusing on creating other solutions, like the next M-Pesa.

AFKI: Why the name Takamoto?

Kyle Schutter: The name, well, I always liked Japanese-sounding names— they roll off the tongue nicely. Also people remember the name and when they hear it, it makes them laugh.

AFKI: How does the integration with M-Pesa work?

Kyle Schutter: We make payment for energy very simple for our customers. We install a biogas system with our proprietary smart meter and a stove for just 10,000 shillings ($120).

Then the farmer can pay for the biogas by sending money to our M-Pesa account. That money is automatically forwarded to our smart meter and the electronics then open the valve on the meter remotely to allow biogas to flow.

When the client runs out of biogas credit, the meter shuts off until they make another payment.

Our technology is even cleverer than how KPLC (Kenya Power and Lighting Company) accounts work. With KPLC, customers have to receive a code on their phones and type it into their meter. Our clients don’t have to worry about that – it’s all automated.

Meanwhile, Takamoto Biogas maintains the biogas system forever to ensure that our farmers can focus their time on what they are best at — farming.

They shouldn’t have to be responsible for the upkeep of their energy source, they should just enjoy having modern energy like the rest of us!

AFKI: Why did you venture into the energy sector?

Kyle Schutter: Energy is the most fundamental need of modern civilization. Energy comes before education, sanitation and transportation. That’s why the invention of fire was one of the most important inventions of human history.

In fact scientists say that fire led to cooked food, which led to less chewing, which led to smaller jaws and bigger brains, which led to homo sapiens. Fire is what separates humans from animals.

Right now there are billions of people in the world without access to reliable, affordable energy. And they are going to stay in the place of poor education, poor sanitation, poor transportation and low agricultural output until they are able to take advantage of modern energy — something we take for granted in many parts of the world.

The funny thing is that the energy we have become so used to is going to run out in the next couple of hundred years. So while oil has been so cheap and useful, we have to come up with another solution otherwise we are going to go back to the Stone Age.

Our work at Takamoto Biogas is one small part of creating a modern energy source for the future. It is not just an incremental improvement on today’s resources such as more efficient charcoal cook stoves or hybrid cars. It is a revolution in using waste to produce a desirable resource.

AFKI: How would you describe doing business in Africa?

Kyle Schutter: Every day is an adventure.

Of course you run into some interesting corrupt officials and usually you can tell them a good story, and end up making friends. One time I nearly convinced a guy asking for a bribe to buy a biogas system from us.

On the flip side people are very helpful. I almost enjoy getting a flat tire upcountry because I know I will make a new friend – someone always stops to help, which isn’t so common where I grew up. Every experience tends to make for a good story and some new friends.

Something interesting about being an entrepreneur in Africa is that you are not a minority. Almost everyone is an entrepreneur. Which is completely different than in the U.S. where a tiny fraction of people are entrepreneurs. Here you can relate to everyone on their “side hustle” and the challenges of getting a business started.

AFKI: What’s the most motivating thing about your job? Why do you wake up every day and go to work?

Kyle Schutter: Definitely our clients: our clients are the most motivating part of this business.

Our farmer clients will tell us stories like one woman and her husband now wake up at 5 a.m. instead of 4 a.m. because they don’t have to split wood and light a wood fire to boil water for milking. So they have an extra hour to rest.

Another client told me that his little girls used to get coughs all the time and missed school. Since they stopped cooking with charcoal they are never missing school.

Hearing that is exciting because we put so much work in and to hear people are appreciating what we do – it’s wonderful!

Another of my favorite experiences is when we turn on the biogas stove for the first time, sometimes the client didn’t believe it would actually work to turn cow dung into cooking fuel and seeing their surprise is worth it.

AFKI: What keeps you awake at night?

Kyle Schutter: When you run a company there are lots of people who depend on you. Now we are 20 employees with families to support. Of course there is a lot of pressure to make sure we keep the company growing so that we can continue to support our awesome team.

Beyond our team, we have over 100 families who now depend on our biogas for cooking their meals. As we continue to develop the technology, we work hard to ensure that all of the biogas systems in the field are working well for our clients so that they don’t have to go back to using unhealthy fuels for cooking.

And we had two roosters for a while, but they don’t keep me awake anymore… They were good in the soup…

AFKI: How many people are on Takamoto Pay-As-You-Go Biogas and what’s your target?

Kyle Schutter: Today 104 families are using Takamoto Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) Biogas in one village, which were installed over the last eight months.There are a few million more farmers in Kenya who could benefit from this technology, and it doesn’t have to be limited to Kenya either.

Kenya will be a leader in this new energy technology as it spreads across the world. For the first time ever, anyone who wants biogas in Kenya – and someday the world – will be able to have it.

AFKI: What would be your advice to upcoming entrepreneurs targeting Kenya and Africa?

Kyle Schutter: One word, delegate! You can’t do it all by yourself. Find smart, passionate people, inspire them and watch the results come in. Use Odesk.com when you want to outsource something. Use Asana for managing tasks. And keep everything backed up on Dropbox in case your computer grows legs. That has saved my sanity a few times.

So really, it’s like starting a business anywhere. Making money takes a lot of work. Making money with a new business model that no one has ever done before takes even more work. Prepare for the long haul.

AFKI: Is there room for more entrepreneurs in the Kenyan energy sector?

Kyle Schutter: You might think the market is saturated with energy companies in Kenya. I don’t know how many solar or clean cook stove  companies there are in Kenya. But only 2 percent of people who need solar have it in Kenya.

If someone were to solve the distribution problem then 98 percent of the market is waiting for them. Many people go into business thinking something doesn’t happen because the technology is not right but usually it is a sales and distribution problem.

AFKI: After a long day’s work, how do you unwind?

Kyle Schutter: I cook some Thai food which is my favorite cuisine and watch “The Wire.”

Click here to see how the Biogas system works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWHOVbJtmqQ