Plastic waste is a significant problem globally, but particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over 17 million tonnes of waste are generated by Sub-Saharan Africa annually; however, only 12% of plastic waste is recycled. The majority of plastic is either burned or dumped, with significant quantities entering rivers, streams and lakes and eventually making its way to the ocean.
Nesta Challenges, in partnership with the Government of Canada, is seeking new innovative solutions to help stop plastic pollution across sub-Saharan Africa. We are launching the CA$14.5 million Afri-Plastics Challenge.
The Afri-Plastics Challenge is calling on entrepreneurs with scalable and sustainable solutions to prevent plastic waste from entering the marine environment within sub-Saharan Africa. The challenge will involve three strands of activity, with the first strand launching today.
The drive for home-grown innovation in Africa has attracted several global firms and tech hubs to the continent. There is also a major rise in African entrepreneurs developing solutions that are effective and contextual to their environments. We are looking for founders, innovators and entrepreneurs with exciting concepts to alleviate the negative impacts of marine pollution on the environment.
Afri-Plastics Challenge’s first strand, Accelerating Growth, is encouraging entries from small and medium-sized enterprises with a proof of concept and the ability to scale nationally/regionally to reach a high target of people. From these applicants, 15 finalists and three winners will be selected.
Africa is slowly starting to recover from Covid-19, and innovation remains vital to economic growth, competitiveness and most importantly, health. SMEs can be a part of the solution because they are constantly innovating, pushing the boundaries of what is possible under much pressure and often with thin resources. We are convinced that African entrepreneurs have tangible solutions to meet the Afri-Plastics Challenge.
Promoting gender equality and women empowerment
The Afri-Plastics Challenge is open to all entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa and encourages solutions from women and girls in particular. The challenge places emphasis on promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa.
The challenge will help promote gender equality, first by supporting women innovators and second, fostering gender-responsive innovations. Applicants will be required to demonstrate how their solutions help advance gender equality.
Additionally, the Afri-Plastics Challenge will help ensure local ownership and capacity building through partnership-building and collaboration between innovators and women and girls, local communities and households, and local organizations and enterprises.
Later in 2021, the second strand of the Afri-Plastics Challenge – Creating Solutions – will call for new ideas, especially those that respond to a particular gap in the innovation landscape in specific countries or with specific population groups. Ten finalists and three winners will be selected.
This will be followed by the third strand, Promoting Change, which will call for large-scale campaigns that raise awareness and engage women and girls in the plastics value chain. 15 finalists and three winners will be selected.
For more information on the criteria and application process, innovators should click here. Applicants can apply from anywhere in the world; however, they should have a link to an African innovator or SME. The deadline for applications to the first strand of the challenge will close on Wednesday 15 September 2021 at 1200 BST.