The grant has helped me kickstart the business, provided funds for the basic and necessary equipment, and an opportunity to earn a leadership certificate in Sustainable Waste Management from the Lagos Business School. This has opened doors of collaboration with other waste management practitioners and exposed me to best practices. I am very excited about the business and the possibilities that exist in waste management and the circular economy.
Oyinlola Akinboye
To commemorate our sixth-year anniversary in April, we launched the Pitch Innovation & Eco-Solution Grant to support our volunteers, SustyVibers’ innovative projects. With this initiative, we aim to encourage and support young people in taking practical steps towards addressing the challenges of climate change while actualising sustainable developments in Nigeria.
Following a review of the applications, five successful candidates were identified, and they pitched their ideas to other SustyVibes volunteers, who voted on the projects’ viability and sustainability. Oyinlola Akinboye was one of the two winners. Arcs Agro Ventures, her idea, received a $500 grant.
Arcs Agro Ventures is a waste upcycling firm that provides household and industrial organic chemicals made from household organic waste. They upcycle organic waste (eggshells) into useful chemicals (scouring powder and fertilizers), thereby diverting them from landfills and extending their lifecycle.
With the help of our PIE grant, ARCS Agro has successfully collected and processed about 93kg of eggshells equivalent to 230 crates of eggshells into 50 individual items of organic scouring powder named “Nature’s Sparkle” and calcium powder named “Cal-Strong”.
ARCS AGRO’s Nature’s Sparkle was also an exhibitor at the UN World Youth Skills Day Conference put together by IHS and WeForGood.
In the long term, Oyinlola and her team dream of creating a world where nothing from the kitchen goes to the bin. They hope to expand from eggshells to large-scale recycling of other food waste like plantain and banana peels, corn cobs and many more.
We are very proud our the progress so far and we look forward to seeing their growth and expansion in the coming months. To purchase their products please visit their instagram page.