Nigerian entrepreneur turns trash to cash

Nigeria's megacity Lagos has always had waste in abundance. This is no surprise owing to the millions of people who live in the sprawling city.
Wecyclers, a waste gathering and processing company is giving communities a way out of this urban challenge by providing a reliable supply of materials to local recycling companies.
Wecyclers works with low income households collecting their trash and giving then redeemable points in exchange.
What started in 2012 as a social enterprise initiative has grown to enlist 11,000 homes across Lagos suburbs.
Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, the chief executive officer of Wecyclers had always wanted to build a network that would see residents in communities get rewarded for their work.
At her factory in Lagos, plastic bottles, cans, cartons, and nylons are collated and processed or crushed before they are bagged and sent to local recycling companies who use the materials for manufacturing.
"We are making it easier, we are making the environment cleaner and we are helping to you know reduce the pressure on our land fields because our land fields are filling up, we are reducing CO2 emissions, we are making ehmm you know we are helping to strengthen the economy because we are providing viable alternatives to virgin materials," the 34 year old said.
Wecyclers with the aid of team members who ride cargo-bikes collects at least 100 tonnes of wastes monthly.The company says it is yet to process at full capacity because of erratic electricity supply in the country.
Chronic power shortages are one of the biggest constraints on investment and growth in Africa's largest economy, an issue the government says it is working to fix.

Pictures courtesy: Akintunde Akinleye

Nigerian entrepreneur fuses fashion and culture to bring out trendy shoe line

As Nigeria continues to look for ways to diversify its economy away from its reliance on crude oil, fashion entrepreneur Tunde Owolabi is keying into the country's vibrant style with new fashion pieces that incorporates local fabrics.
Nigeria's economy the largest in Africa is going through its worst crisis in years and Tunde Owolabi believes that broadening the appeal with fashion products that appeal to stores beyond the African continent will help boost the economy.
The young entrepreneur produces fashion pieces with aso-oke, hand loomed cloth woven by residents in Western Nigeria.
In one year, Tunde Owolabi has become a well known name in fashion circles with his collection of aso-oke shoes and accessories.
Inspired by culture, the 38 year old is seeking to promote Africa's contemporary fashion landscape with afro-centric fashion accessories, sneakers, boot and sandals all handmade from aso-oke.
The founder and creative director of Ethnik spends months creating the fashion pieces with his team.
He says it is important to push for reforms that will see Nigeria tap into other areas that will reduce its reliance on oil.
"Starting now makes me understand what I'm doing and you know the challenges are great but if at this difficult time I can overcome the challenges, by the time things get better then we will be smiling you know because now Nigeria is looking into manufacturing with the fall in oil prices and all and there can't be a better time to be an entrepreneur because now we have to look inwards, find new means of making money, find new means of getting things done and helping the country to prosper as opposed to oil," the fashion entrepreneur said.
The multimedia artist has invested over 3 million naira(11,764 U.S. dollars) into the business and has profited over 5 million naira(19,607 U.S. dollars) from the sales of over 700 fashion pieces.
With a current staff of 6 people, Tunde says he is looking to employ young designers to create designs for the shoes and fabrics.
He says the industry is not without its challenges but hopes to one day break into the mainstream fashion market.
"We need to keep our fit on the ground properly, you know when we've overcome the hurdle of manufacturing because it's still bit of a puzzle for us; sometimes you get the materials, sometimes you don't you know and then you have to start to looking for alternatives and how to balance it out but once we are able to cross that hurdle and we know that we can get the kind of materials we want readily available to us without breaking the bank then we can start to produce things that will rival the international market because the advantage they have is, they have dedicated people one, they have the materials available to them and they have the financial backing," Tunde said.

Pictures courtesy: Sharon Ogunleye

Nigerian chefs transform meals to culinary delights

For months now there has been a renewed buzz for Nigerian food. Chefs all over the country are taking daunting steps and creating new recipes made with Nigerian ingredients. Gone are the days where garri(cassava flakes) was just made for eba or drank with water, sugar and milk. It's a whole new world for culinary exploration for us and I am loving every bit of it. I'm not sitting back either. The chefs alone cannot enjoy alone. I have started my own journey and for those with open minds, I encourage you to do same. 

Few weeks ago, I stepped into Nigerian chef, Uzor Orimalade's garden and I was wowed. Uzor used to be in the corporate world; switching careers from management consulting to investment banking until she finally decided to pursue her passion for baking and cooking. She has not looked back ever since she set up her company Uzo's Food Labs, a small haven that has its own garden where she grows all sorts of vegetables in little pots. The chef who is very passionate about the concept from 'garden to table Nigeria' is a gardener experimenting with growing a wide range of vegetables and creating recipes from her harvests.
In Uzor's garden, one can find tomatoes, black truffle tomatoes, cherry bomb pepper, green bell, brussel sprouts, lemon cucumber, ginger and a lot of other Nigerian and foreign vegetables.
The female entrepreneur says combining Nigerian and foreign ingredients in preparing meals is the future of Nigerian food. 

A culinary explosion of Nigerian food helped by some Nigerian chefs is making traditional recipes more attractive for residents in the country. This new wave of innovative food is being referred to as the new Nigerian kitchen.
"The new Nigerian kitchen that we see a lot of now that is championed by someone that I really really like, Ozoz, integrates other elements from other cuisines into our Nigerian food so by having a garden like this with things like basal and lime basal and the foreign egg plant, we can integrate that into Nigerian food and it will be seamless and I think that's actually the key to opening Nigerian food up to the international pallet, a lot of the problem I think has been the presentation of Nigerian food and the 'conkness' which isn't necessarily bad but let's face it, you need to water things down or make Nigerian food a little more acceptable to the pallets of the foreigners and by doing that you can just integrate some things that they are familiar with and then it almost seems like it now goes from Nigerian food to world cuisine," Uzor said.
Groundbreaking chef, Ozoz Sokoh is on a quest to find the soul of Nigerian food which could provide inspiration for future food inventions from the West African country. Based in Nigeria's commercial capital, Ozoz has over the years grown to become known for transforming Nigerian meals into delightful culinary adventures. From her home in Lagos, Ozoz is one of the many chefs without a restaurant that is reshaping Nigerian food with creative cuisines.
Ozoz says she hopes the new Nigerian kitchen inspires a desired change in Nigeria's food industry.
"I hope that it changes what Nigerians at home eat. I hope that it also influences what is served in Nigerian restaurants at home and abroad and I think more importantly is I hope that it inspires and creates a generation of small and medium entrepreneurs who create products that are exportable, that are shelf stable products that can be you know, that can be used in restaurants that can be sold at home and abroad," the Nigerian chef who fell in love with food at a young age said.
I tasted Ozoz's agbalumo juice and gosh..... it tasted so divine. Never in my wildest imagination did I think it would turn out like that. Thanks to Ozoz for being so patient with the team.

Companies are keying in too. Nigerians were treated to gastronomic delights at a recent food and drink fair held by Guaranty Trust bank. The 2-day event was designed to showcase Nigeria's emerging food industry and had notable chefs hosting culinary classes to hundreds of participants from all over the country. The chefs demonstrated to food enthusiasts how to prepare modern twists to Nigerian cuisine and were allowed to satisfy their taste buds after each class.
The organizers hope that this kick-starts the beginning of a revival in Nigeria's food industry.

Video link: Nigerian chef transforms traditional cuisine into fine dining

Ozoz teaching participants how to make different food and drinks with pawpaw

Ozoz(right)