Business
3 young African entrepreneurs to watch
2). Diana Mong’are, Kenya. Founder, Planet Green
Age: 18
Diana Mong’are – 1st Runner Up of the 2012 Anzisha prize
Diana Mong’are became tired of the ever-growing trash piles in her community, and decided to do something about it.
Mong’are considered that simply removing the trash once was not a permanent solution. Instead she created a clever sustainable system for keeping her community free of trash and improving the environment.
She set out to raise 10,000 Kenyan Shillings (US$120) from her neighbors, family and friends and used the money to purchase large rolls of black and clear plastic bags.
Mong’are persuaded her neighbors and members of her community to purchase the plastic bags and encouraged them to separate their trash into biodegradable waste and recyclables. She hired a worker to gather the recyclable waste from members of the community and she personally negotiated the sale of the waste to a local recycling company.
With the proceeds from her recycling deals, Diana acquired more plastic bags and became an evangelist for environmental conservation in her community. But she went further still. Her next stop was collecting wood chips and sawdust from small scale furniture makers as well as rotting vegetables from market women and selling them to local poultry and vegetable farmers.
In most African countries, small-scale farmers use sawdust to preserve the storage life of potatoes and other crops. Mong’are realized that these farmers were usually eager and excited to purchase this waste from her. She was in business.
She went on to register Planet Green, a company that mobilizes farmers, carpenters, households, and a local recycling company to reduce waste build up, at a profit. Between February 2012 and now, Diana has succeeded in recruiting 50 families into Planet Green’s recycling initiative. She is also an emerging voice in environmental conservation and sustainability in Africa and she has already started educating local school children on the importance and various methods of environmental conservation.
