African Cleantech Startups Invited to Apply for $11.5m Afri-Plastics Challenge

Nesta Challenges has announced the launch of the Afri-Plastics Challenge. The Challenge will reward the best Cleantech startups with waste management solutions from throughout Sub-Saharan Africa for marine plastic waste in poor nations.

The challenge aims to reduce the tonnes of plastic that end up in oceans and other water bodies. In many African countries, only about 12% of waste plastic gets recycled, with the rest being discarded, burned, or buried.

Constance Agyeman, Director of International Development, Nesta Challenges speaking at the event said that Africa’s drive for innovative solutions has attracted global firms to the continent.

“The drive for home-grown innovation in Africa has led to a major rise in African entrepreneurs developing solutions that are effective and contextual to their environments. This in turn has attracted several global firms and tech hubs to the continent. We are looking for founders, innovators, and entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa with exciting concepts to alleviate the negative impacts of plastic pollution, to help protect marine environments.

“As Africa begins to recover from COVID-19, innovation remains vital to economic growth, competitiveness, and health. SMEs are an important part of the solution because they are constantly innovating, pushing the boundaries of what is possible under much pressure and often with limited resources. We are excited to hear from African entrepreneurs about the ways that their initiatives meet the Afri-Plastics Challenge” Constance said.

Across the Challenge, cash rewards will be directly distributed to startups, the winning startup will receive $1m including other non-financial (capacity-building) support.

Applications for the program run till September 15, 2021, interested startups can click here to apply.