By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A start-up recycler, Westman Recycle, has emerged as the winner of the business ideas pitch, which took place at the Circular Economy Innovation Partnership (CEIP) training programme.
Rite Foods Limited sponsored the event and saw eight recycling companies participating in the three-month exercise’s final presentation ceremony on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
The market leader in the food and beverage sector of the Nigerian economy said it threw its weight behind the programme as part of its eco-friendly initiative.
The scheme aims to upgrade start-up recyclers’ knowledge on how to use modern technology and creativity in mopping plastics from the environment for recycling purposes and by further impacting society through their proceeds.
It involves the fundamentals of plastic recycling, the business processes, the development of new techniques, and the technical architecture suitable for adoption in the advancement of recyclable materials for a cleaner environment.
At the end of the training, Westman Recycle emerged as the winner and will enjoy support for business growth.
The first runner-up was Recycle Works, while GIVO Africa emerged as the second runner-up, with others such as Recycavaenue, Brickify Limited, Trashusers, Retreasure, and Nature Kcalls.
The winner was selected after a thorough scrutiny of the various plastic waste collection and recycling ideas by the judges, which had the Managing Director of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, who advised them to be dedicated to their humble cause of making the environment cleaner and further improve on their business enterprise.
He commended Rite Foods for sponsoring the programme, which would positively impact the recyclers’ operations.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of Rite Foods, Mr Seleem Adegunwa, posited that the leading company with lots of inventiveness in the production of its award-winning brands has been supporting the growth of innovation in various spheres of endeavour, promoting talent for the actualisation of set dreams by young Nigerians and that it threw its weight behind the recyclers training exercise as it aligns with its mission of putting consumers at topmost priority and making them successful in life.
He stated that the scheme was part of the company’s contribution to the growth of start-ups and the preservation of the environment, as evident in its sponsorship of the award-winning environmental conservation project, ‘Riteonthebeach’, an initiative of Popbeachclub, which cleared 100,000 plastic bottles from Lagos shorelines.
Mr Adegunwa further admonished the participants to always be dogged with their business ideas and also be very flexible to adapt to modern trends to make it more successful, like Rite Foods, with the various steps taken since inception in making its brands, Proudly-Nigerian.
On her part, the Director of Network and Relationship at CEIP, Ms Yomi Odutola, affirmed that the training was an exposure for recyclers to adopt an up-to-the-minute approach to ridding plastic waste from society and for recycling into new products for useful purposes.
