From 16 to 18 September, Consuming Carbon was at the National Bamboo Expo and World Bamboo Day 2026 at Meru University of Science and Technology. On the ground, Robert Irungu, our ESG and Compliance Lead, and Charles Cardovillis, our Managing Director for Africa, carried our name.
One stand, two names
We did not go alone. We shared our stand with EcoGreen Kenya, the community group we work with in Busia on the Pamoja EcoGreen project. EcoGreen brought their people and a load of bamboo goods all the way from Busia to Meru: woven baskets, chairs, hammocks and handmade furniture. Visitors could sit on the work. Many did.
Our shared stand with EcoGreen Kenya.
Our banner carried one line we want everyone to remember: bamboo only stays in the ground if it pays the farmer who planted it. Carbon credits, furniture, baskets, biochar. It all has to come back to the farmer.
A visit from the Cabinet Secretary
On the first day, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Dr Deborah Barasa, stopped at our stand. Charles and Robert briefed her on the Pamoja EcoGreen project and our partnership with EcoGreen. They showed her how bamboo products open new income for communities, and how that handwork creates jobs for women.
On the financing panel
Charles also spoke on the panel "Financing Africa's Bamboo Economy: Unlocking Capital for Growth," moderated by Dr James Ndufa of KEFRI. When he described our work in Busia, he used the numbers we have checked, like the 2,367 farmer records on our Busia registers, and was clear about what is verified and what is still our target. We are proud of that. Investors and buyers can tell the difference, and so can farmers.
What we brought home
Three days produced eight new conversations. They include a bamboo plantation owner in Makueni County who wants to explore a carbon project, a group running bamboo and biochar work in several African countries, a foundation working on building with bamboo, Kenya's national forestry research institute, a government tree-growing programme, a community restoration group in Nyeri, an engineering firm turning farm waste into biochar, and a farmer cooperative network in Meru.
Charles and the team are already following up. Some of these will become projects. Some will become partners. All of them tell us the same thing: bamboo in Kenya is ready to grow up, and it needs data people can trust to get there.
Thank you to the State Department for Forestry, Meru University of Science and Technology, our friends at EcoGreen Kenya, and everyone who stopped by to sit on a bamboo chair and talk with us.
The Consuming Carbon Team.
Be Cool.