Demand for plastic across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is projected to grow by 375% together, making it one of the dominant regions globally in total waste generation. 

The Afri-Plastics Challenge aims to address this by incentivising the development and scaling of innovative solutions tackling plastic mismanagement. It involves a public competition that will reward the best solutions to addressing marine plastic pollution across Sub-Saharan Africa in a way that promotes gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. 

The Challenge will help communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to prevent plastic waste from entering the marine environment by finding ways to minimize reliance on plastic, new ways of managing plastic waste, and/or new uses for plastic that has been discarded.

Delivered by Nesta Challenges, the Challenge will award a collective total of CAD$14.5 million in financial support and at least $1 million in capacity-building support to innovators across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Today, the Afri-Plastics Challenge is happy to announce 12 experts who will serve on the Judging Panel who will select the Semi-Finalists, Finalists and Winners for each strand of the Challenge. The prestigious panel is composed of nationally and internationally recognized leaders in environmental innovation, sustainability, plastic-waste management, the circular economy, and more. 

The following judges will select the winning entries to the Challenge:

Core Judges

• Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo – Director & Regional Representative for Africa – United Nations Environment Programme 

UN Environment Programme Director and Regional Representative for Africa, spent decades managing environmental, community, and gender-equality development in Latin America, Canada, and Africa. She holds the Global Women Leadership and Green Future Leadership Award.

• Dr Adenike Akinsemolu – Founder & Director – The Green Institute 

Founder director of the Green Institute in Nigeria, Dr. Akinsemolu is a passionate environmental educator and author on sustainability. Her book, The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, is the first text to deal exclusively with sustainability issues in Africa. 

• Ida Nganga – Regional Head, Anglophone Countries for UNESCO Emerging Technologies for Development  

Ida leads the award-winning Regional Consortium for Development, whose experts use technology and engineering as an enabler for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (RCD Africa). Ida Nganga is Regional Head, Anglophone Countries, for UNESCO Emerging Technologies for Development. She has been proactive in innovation competitions worldwide. 

• Radhia Mtonga – Social Enterprise Learning & Development Co-Ordinator – BongoHive

Radhia is a Zambian social entrepreneur whose passions include environmental sustainability and the circular economy. She founded the Ulubuto tech start-up, which won first prize honours in the Bongo Hive Discover Program sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development in 2018.

“It’s extremely exciting to be part of an initiative committed to finding innovative solutions that promote the circular plastic economy while simultaneously improving the social economic standing of women and girls in Sub Saharan Africa”

Strand One – Accelerating Growth

• Jocelyne Landry Tsonang – Executive Team Member, African Circular Economy Network

Jocelyne Landry Tsonang from African Circular Economy Network is a Cameroonian entrepreneur. Driven by her Pan-African mindset, she has founded an association of young female leaders, Maluwa Africa, incorporated in Nigeria with some 100 members in 20 African countries.     

“Leveraging the Circular Economy (CE) to tackle plastic issues in Africa through an inclusive and innovative approach is an important step toward implementing a just transition to CE in Africa”

• Edward Mungai – Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC)

Edward is Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre. He worked with the Danish International Investment Funds (IFU) in Copenhagen and Africa, where he headed the regional office. He has helped develop financing mechanisms for SMEs in agribusiness, renewable energy, water and sanitation. 

Strand Two – Creating Solutions     

• Matthew Haden – Founder and Managing Director, The Recycler Tanzania

Matthew is an expert in solid waste management and recycling with seven years experience in the private sector. He is a strategist with knowledge of setting up and running a business in an emerging market, writing tenders and business proposals, and winning grant funding.      

• Oliver Nudds – Managing Director, Ocean Plastics Technologies

Oliver Nudds was born and raised in Africa, with work experience in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has successfully established distribution channels and sales solutions for multiple international brands and manufacturers over the past 30 years. 

Strand Three – Promoting Change

• Joshua Amponsem – Founder, Green Africa Youth Organisation

Joshua leads the first community-led zero waste project in Ghana. He advocates climate-change adaptation, circular economy, and disaster risk reduction. Joshua Amponsem served as advisor to the UN Youth Envoy’s Office in planning the UN Youth Climate Summit. 

‘’I’m excited to join as a jury of the AfriPlastics Challenge with the objective to make this an opportunity to channel investments to new innovations across diverse sectors in the waste management value chain to tackle plastic pollution and its ripple effect in Africa.’’

• Adwoa Coleman – Country Manager (Ghana), Dow 

Over 10 years of experience in varied technical roles in the chemical manufacturing industry. Currently focused on enabling a circular economy for plastics in Africa. She ran the Ghana Design Challenge on Sustainable Waste Management 2021. 

Click here to to learn more about the Judging Panel for the Afri-Plastics Challenge: https://afri-plastics.challenges.org/judging-panel/

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