My waste My Treasure
Kitwe, ZambiaZambia
Organization type:
for profit
Start-Up
Budget:
$50,000 - $100,000
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
One of our employees Female employees 26 has only attended primary School, She lost hes parents when he was !6 and could not continue with his education.At the age of 16 he become a street kid and was involved in drugs and prostitution.She says Working for the company and having gone through the training has inspired her to one day run his own company. She says you don't need to have a degree or PHD to have a successful life.
Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.
The project has helped these disadvantaged young employees a lot because they are inspired by this and are having plans of starting their own businesses. It has also empowered them and enables them to stay away from bad activities in society. They are now independent and able to suppport their families. In rural areas there are about 1500 households, most of the occupants are in their youth only a few in old age, the fact that we are bringing them a cheaper highly efficient energy resource is a winner for them and for us. when we break even it is also in the vision of the company to sponsor children, youths in education upto university level and provide for families that cant manage a meal in a day and health to the sick Apart from this there are now more passionate about taking care of the environment.
Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?
The plan is to open up as many plants as possible all over the country to help raise the profit and the financial state of the project. we also plan on introducing new products such as energy saving braziers to help diversify our project.
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Not many people are addressing this problem yet even though some households who cannot afford energy for cooking gave resorted to using the sawdust or wood shavings directly as a source of energy. This is very dangerous for the environment as it produces toxic gases. My project however turns this sawdust into a product that is completely environmental friendly and produces no smoke or harmful gases at all.
Founding Story
About two years ago my brother and I had a business idea which my family encouraged us to pursue. This coincided with the first Zambian Children’s Climate Conference by UNICEF, which I attended.
Having learned a lot about climate change, I got back home and decided to recycle saw dust. However, I did not have the money to implement the idea.This project was realized with financial assistance from a USAID project and started operating in 2011. One day, my brother and I were listening to the radio and heard an advertisement about an NGO that was funding youth businesses in Zambia. At the time I was in school and below 18 so my elder brother, Kenny took it up. Our business was among 38 that were funded and that is how Da'joy company was born.