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SWITCH Africa Green has been supporting eco-entrepreneurs, policy makers, businesses and non-state actors in making the switch to sustainable consumption and production practices. Through strong partnerships, capacity development, mentorship and access to markets, MSMEs and communities are benefiting from green growth, decent jobs creation and improved livelihoods. 

https://youtu.be/_9B-5KXz8l0

Here is the story by beneficiaries from 4 projects in Kenya:

Ms Perrine Marie Samuella is a beautician from Latanier, Rodrigues. She is, however, not your usual kind of beautician. The owner of a mobile beauty and health salon, Marie uses products that are natural for her work and to make money and make her clients happy. This work involves beauty care and hair dressing using bio products, slimming and relaxation, Ayurvedic and Swedish massage.

https://youtu.be/yDYpCZkNHqk

Complexe Scolaire Baraka is a technical college located in Bobo-Dioulasso in the South-West of Burkina Faso. The institution had 410 students in 2017 in various courses including masonry, electricity, metal works, hair dressing, and tailoring. About 26% of the students are women and only 2% of the students taking electricity as a major are female.

The college was started in 2005 and in 2017 employed a total of 14 people; four of those being women.

https://youtu.be/zlHkQ-Aohvs

Wend Waoga is a women group from the district of Koudougou in Burkina Faso. Established in 1997, the association is one of the beneficiaries of the SWITCH Africa Green programme through Groupe de Recherche et d’Analyse Appliquées pour le Développement (GRAAD) under the project NEERE which in the local language means clean or pretty.

https://youtu.be/hEO97M--hwM

Faso Attie`ke` is a women’s association of more than 400 members from Ouagadougou specializing in producing cassava flour (Attie`ke`). The association is increasing women’s income by diversifying products and using improved technology. It obtains cassava paste as a raw material within Burkina Faso, from members’ farms and other farms as well. It also sources cassava from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.

https://youtu.be/aSFQpGNxGH8

Ober Child Mothers Association is a youth farmer group that was established in 2012 in Barr Sub County of Lira District in northern Uganda. It trains young mothers in sustainable food production, helping them achieve financial and food security. The group has 30 women under the age of 35.

https://youtu.be/-5A7SepSNVY

At one time David Marenya of Gem Sauri Ecotourism was exhibiting his products at Laico Regency hotel in the city of Nairobi to an enthusiastic crowd.  At another, he was airborne to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to represent the enterprise at the SWITCH Africa Green Regional Forum.

https://youtu.be/KqT0XY_vc8Q

Igara Growers Tea Factory Ltd is in Butare, Kyamuhuga in Uganda. The factory, which was established in 1969, employs some 926 people, out of which 409 are men, 114 women and 403 youths. The factory is made up of small scale tea farmers and processes and sells black tea. The factory has a membership of over 7,000 farmers but just over 3,200 are active. Green solutions such as waste composting has increased the earnings of the factory’s members.

Champion Shoes Limited, a leading shoe manufacturing firm situated in Thika town is perhaps one of the oldest establishments in leather footwear manufacturing in the area, having existed for over 15 years. It is run by entrepreneur Mr. James Mwaura.

https://youtu.be/Vn_9SsSCm4A

https://youtu.be/9bC5xzm7o6w

https://youtu.be/vlGczg8jY5Y

Nyangorora Banana Processors was started in 2006 as a youth group working as a farmers’ field school involved in educating farmers on modern farming methods and research on different varieties of banana.  Seven years later in 2013, the group registered as a limited company.

https://youtu.be/SyGU03IwAlA

https://youtu.be/FX83ew8hNeA

https://youtu.be/uwfrcTBzb6w

Kisumu is home to several filleting factories which produce close to 150,000 tonnes of fish waste every year. This waste is in the form of the skin, the bones, the intestines and the head. For the longest time, this waste had been causing a huge environmental issue in Kisumu.

Koforidua is a town situated in southeastern part of Ghana. It lies in the Densu River basin, near the southeastern base of the Kwahu Plateau. Here we find Issah Moro busy in his old scrap metal yard. Issah is the Chairperson of Koforidua Scrap Dealers Association.

“This is our old site,” Issah says, pointing to a yard with scrap metal vying for every available space.

A weighing machine with its hook pointing menacingly downwards has taken a vintage position. Here, every single piece is capable of inflicting harm albeit in a different manner.

https://youtu.be/1A_cl4ZsSag

Meet Yaw Boateng, the Managing Director of Lifestyle Creations, a furniture manufacturing company based in Tema, a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located 25 kilometres east of the capital city of Accra, in the region of Greater Accra.

Easy going and with the artist name of Zuzu, Boateng introduces his country as the centre of the world on latitude zero and longitude zero; perhaps a prequel to his inspiring story in greening his business.

https://youtu.be/k94PXJ2MnUU

https://youtu.be/RiIQ7x12bgA

Sugar Corporation of Uganda Ltd (SCOUL) is a sugar processing company under the Mehta Group. The raw materials for the company include sugar which is obtained from out growers and from the factory farm.  The company is in Kyoga Water Management zone in Lugazi and faced a lot of challenges with water management.

https://youtu.be/34CbR8PN68M

East African Packaging Solutions Ltd is a pulp and paper processing company whose core business is in the processing of and selling of corrugated boxes. It is in Njeru Buikwe District in Jinja Uganda. The company was established in 2008 and employs 236 people among them 210 men and 26 women.

Building contractor-turned bio digester, entrepreneur Ambrose Kofi Tsekpo is a man on an upward trajectory in environment conservation terms.

https://youtu.be/qRBMxnkRB-s

Safi Sana Ghana Ltd is waste resource social enterprise based in Accra, Ghana that uses a circular waste treatment model to support local communities and protect the environment. The company has been in commission for the past 6 years and is leading a revolution to tackle Ghana’s sanitation challenges while also, generating energy to supply to the national grid.

https://youtu.be/evRWB0JOVTo

Tucked in the city of Ghana is Blancomet Recycling Limited. Located in North Industrial Area, opposite Kasadjan Construction Limited. Blancomet recycles nonferrous scrap metals and used lead acid batteries. This is done by sorting, refining and then exporting these products to make money.

https://youtu.be/cmrKjx9cugk

Atlantic Recycling International Systems is a privately owned Limited Liability Company duly registered under the Company Act of Ghana. Atlantic Recycling’s area of business is to train, collect, recycle, and market E-waste from businesses, household and landfills at their recycling facility located in Atlantic Phone Building, Clerk street, Osu in Accra, Ghana. The company recycles information communication technology (ICT) products and small electronic devices such as phones, tablets etc.

https://youtu.be/5BCAURN92KI

Ouedrago Albert and Brothers is a member of Association Jeunessse Solidaire pour le Developpement Veritable (AJSDV), from Ouahigouya commune in Burkina Faso.

AJSDV was established in 1997 and employs a total of 13 people with ten of those being men and three women.

https://youtu.be/DF1gioxqfAU

Anatrans is a cashew processing factory that is situated in Bobo-Dioulasso, city in the South East of Burkina Faso, and the second largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. Anatrans was established in 2009 and has  an employee capacity of 1171.

After discovering how to turn cashew shells into renewable energy the enterprise has never looked back.