She Scoops K750,000, in Zanaco’s Green Innovation Challenge.

 

Mwinji Nakamba Siame (Black Dress), Wins Zanaco Green Innovation Challenge.

These five minutes could change the trajectory of Mwinji Nakamba's startup, and perhaps, her life.

At the Southern Sun Hotel, Lusaka, she is up against four other young entrepreneurs. They are just as hopeful, just as determined.  

The air is thick, dense with whispers. Some may call this tension. Over and over again, these social entrepreneurs repeat their lines to themselves.They are getting ready to pitch.

There is K750,000 ($32,500), in seed funding for the best green innovation, and they all want it.  

Mwinji has been preparing for this day. When her social enterprise, Wastemat Zambia, started to convert plastic waste into eco-friendly products, she knew she and her team had significant environmental problems to solve. 

It's called the Vive Reusable Pad, Wastemat’s foremost product. A reusable, chemical free, climate smart sanitary pad made of 100% organic cotton.

"Consider this… The average girl menstruates for 40 years. On average she uses 20 pads each month…" ~ Mwinji Nakamba

Going by this, that’s approximately 9,600 pads per girl within a span of 40 years.

“And they all end up in landfills.”

She concludes emphatically. 

The Vive Reusable Pad.

Trevor Hambayi of Development Finance Associates, and Tumba Mupango of Water for Water, are but two of the prominent figures tasked with grading these pitches. Water for Water, is an independent non profit organisation that promotes the fair use of water, through championing safe drinking, sanitation and hygiene, as well as sustainable use.

The challenge and preliminary incubation programme is powered by the non-profit. Water for Water believes consumer culture, that has instigated the immoderate use of natural resources, can be countered by sustainability centred innovations. 

Globally over 12 billion menstrual products are disposed of annually, creating more than 6% of sewage-related debris around rivers and beaches.

This, according to Sanitation for Millions. Incidentally, traditional menstrual products are non biodegradable. 

When Mwinji Nakamba said, every single Vive Menstrual Pad used in place of a disposable one, keeps around 200 single-use plastics items out of the environment, the panel of judges were sold. 

Disposable menstrual pads are hazardous to the environment and the general health of females, owing to their chemical content—they can also be quite costly. Incessantly obtaining them, is a challenge unique to disadvantaged girls and women living in developing countries such as Zambia. 

Period poverty is the globally accepted term. And one Mwinji Nakamba vows to diminish through the scaling of Wastemat’s Vive Reusable Pads. Her primary markets are low and middle income communities.

Mwinji speaks vehemently over the product’s promising use case. The Vive Pad is already distributed domestically in Lusaka and the Copperbelt province. Internationally, it is present in parts of Zimbabwe and Canada.  

Joseph Mwansa of Global Empowers pitches a sustainable prepaid water solution. The startup’s goal is to improve access to clean and safe drinking water in rural Sub Saharan Africa. Because water purification in these regions involves traditional means such as boiling over an open wood fire; the practice contributes significantly to deforestation and carbon emissions.

Global Empowers comes in second, walking away with half a million Kwacha ($21,650), to scale their innovation. 

Twalima Agro plans to improve the livelihood of local farmers by installing biodigesters. Systems that utilise organic waste, such as animal excreta, to produce chemical free fertilisers and biogas.

According to the Green Business Bureau, biodigesters are an effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of farmers, manage food waste, and save on cost. Andrew Mpashi, co-founder of Twalima Agro, secures K250,000, placing third. 

Besides growing her team to include more disadvantaged women, Mwinji has her eyes set on industrial sanitary manufacturing machinery. This could increase Wastemat’s production by tens of thousands of pads a day, she says. And incidentally, their ability to meet demand — It was only recently when the startup was granted a government tender to supply 80,000 sanitary pads.

Under the presidency of Hakainde Hichilema, the Zambian government has committed to providing public schools with free menstrual wear. These schools accommodate the mass of girls from low income communities. Girls most likely to be affected by period poverty. 

“Now, we can have the Vive Reusable Pad available in different stores across the country, we can also to ship our sanitary pads.” ~ Mwinji Nakamba Siame.

Zanaco Green Innovation Challenge Winners.