The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES) grew out of the 2016 Kigali Amendment on climate-damaging refrigerants and Rwanda’s National Cooling Strategy. Working with the Centre for Sustainable Cooling at the University of Birmingham, the Governments of Rwanda and the United Kingdom established ACES at the University of Rwanda’s Rubirizi Campus. The most important insight about ACES is easy to miss at first: building on the principles of the Cold Economy (Professor Toby Peters and Dr Leyla Sayin), it was designed as a system, not as a collection of departments. Understanding that design took me several months. Each department appeared to have its own training programme and technical language. Only gradually did the full architecture – the Cold Economy – become visible. ACES links technology, food, health, enterprise, finance and markets so that cooling infrastructure can continue delivering value after installation. Why the system view matters A cold room alone is not a cold chain. A functioning cold chain requires correctly selected equipment, reliable energy, trained technicians, proper handling of food and health products, viable demand, disciplined management, market access and a business model that pays operating and maintenance costs. If one of these elements fails, the asset may remain idle or operate below capacity. ACES therefore develops the human, technical and institutional capabilities that must surround physical infrastructure. The Department of Refrigeration and Energy provides the technical foundation. It trains technicians at progressive levels, develops practical curricula, supports safe refrigerant handling, maintains demonstration facilities and tests equipment under controlled conditions. This capacity helps Rwanda and other African countries select, install, operate and maintain efficient systems suited to local conditions. It also reduces dependence on imported technical expertise and creates a pathway towards local innovation and manufacturing. The Food Systems function connects cooling technology to what happens from harvest to consumption. It addresses post-harvest handling, food safety, nutrition, product quality, storage, transport and the organisation of supply chains. Its purpose is to ensure that cooling responds to the characteristics of particular crops and markets. Without this knowledge, refrigeration can merely delay loss or move it to another point in the chain. With it, farmers and cooperatives can improve quality, extend selling periods and reach higher value markets. The One Health Department shows that cold chain infrastructure serves more than agriculture. Temperature control protects vaccines, medicines, diagnostic samples, food safety, animal health and environmental health. The department brings these connected risks into research, training and field practice. This broadens the public value of investment in cold chains and encourages joint planning across agriculture, health, livestock, environment and energy institutions. From useful technology to lasting economic value Technical performance and product quality are necessary, but they do not by themselves sustain a facility. The Department of Sustainable Enterprise and Value Systems addresses the economic and organisational conditions that keep the system working. It develops cooperative and enterprise models, market linkages, investment readiness, financing structures, logistics arrangements and evidence for decision making. It asks who will own and operate an asset, which services customers will pay for, how farmers will benefit, how maintenance will be financed and how risks will be shared. In this way, markets are treated as part of the infrastructure rather than as an activity to consider after construction. The Incubator and Accelerator extends this logic into enterprise creation and value addition.Produce that does not meet export specifications need not become waste. Entrepreneurs and cooperatives can process, dry, chill, freeze, package or brand it for domestic and regional markets. The incubation function combines training, mentoring, facilities and networks so that ideas can become tested products and viable businesses. It also creates opportunities for young people and women in services that grow around the cold chain. A model for public investment and national capability These functions are connected through applied research, community cooling hubs, packhouses, demonstration facilities and the regional Hub and Specialised Outreach and Knowledge Establishment model. They allow knowledge to move between classrooms, laboratories, communities, government and industry. Field experience improves training and system design; technical evidence informs standards and procurement; enterprise evidence guides finance and market development; and monitoring shows what should be adapted before wider replication. For senior government leaders, this architecture offers an important lesson. Sustainable cold chain development should be planned as coordinated public capability, not as isolated equipment procurement. Ministries and agencies responsible for agriculture, health, education, energy, environment, industry and finance each hold part of the solution. ACES provides a platform through which these responsibilities can be aligned, tested and translated into implementable models. The master planning achievement behind ACES lies in this integration. Its founders recognised that Africa needs equipment that works, people who can maintain it, products that retain their value, enterprises that can earn revenue, finance that matches agricultural realities and institutions that learn from evidence. When these elements are designed together, cooling becomes durable infrastructure for food security, public health, climate resilience, productive employment and inclusive economic growth. The writer is the Head of Sustainable Enterprise and Value Systems at ACES.
