MEET 2017 TEF ALUMNI, OLUWASEYI AKANBI WHO RUNS BUSINESS IN THE WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR
Waste Management Nasarawa – African Success Stories: In Nigeria today, illegal dumping of refuse, mainly in industrial and municipal areas, has become a significant concern to humans and the environment. The present environmental pollution derived from solid waste littering has created a lot of health challenges for household residents around the dumping sites. Lack of appropriate storage facilities, inadequate waste management, and planning, wrong perceptions by residents, and carefree attitudes towards environmental cleaning and sanitation are the major causes of this problem.
Oluwaseyi Akanbi took the initiative to change the narrative of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, and roads in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria by establishing his waste management company Zero-Waste Management Konsult.
“I am motivated to be an entrepreneur today because of the need to solve environmental problems, creating jobs for unemployed youth populations and to be financially independent.“
He offers waste bins to the Keffi community through his company to curb the menace caused by the indiscriminate dumping of refuse. He collects this waste weekly from individual premises, sorting, processing the recyclable waste materials, and disposing of non-recyclable materials for farmers as fertilizers.
“My business is changing the attitude of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, uncompleted buildings and even on roads by the citizens in my community.”
His business generates USD 550 every month. With the collaboration of the Nasarawa State Waste Management Bureau (NASWAMB), the agency in charge of waste management in Nasarawa state, he has acquired up to 180 customers with a team of 8, which he currently employs. More than 20,000 people have access to a clean, safe, and healthy environment through his intervention and the support he got through the TEF entrepreneurship program.
“Through TEF entrepreneurship program, my business has been standardized through the training I have received and also the networking opportunity I have been exposed to.”
About The Tony Elumelu Foundation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.
