Kenya: Plastics recycler boosted by a diverse group of investors
Mr. Green Africa, a Kenyan plastics recycling company, has been boosted by a major round of investment by impact driven investors and key industry stakeholders to scale its business model across the continent.
The investment will allow Mr. Green Africa to build on its success and scale its business model. The company will do so by improving the supply chain and paying its waste pickers a living wage. Mr. Green Africa also plans to increase the capacity of the production plant to process 15-20,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste in the East Africa region.
Mr. Green Africa’s purpose is to turn waste to value and make a localised circular economy in emerging markets common place. The deal shows the company was able to attract impact investors to embed sustainable environmental and social impact at its core. Mr. Green Africa was also able to engage critical plastics supply chain stakeholders to ensure business decisions are guided by contextual expertise and remain future proof.
The deal involves some of the leading pioneers in the plastics industry and impact investors, including:
– DOW, a leading material science company that will support Mr. Green Africa innovations on plastic collection and recycling, and product development, with a focus on flexible packaging feedstock.
– Minderoo, through its ‘No Plastic Waste’ and ‘Walk Free’ initiatives, will support Mr. Green Africa in its impact journey. In particular there will be a focus on improving the livelihoods of informal waste pickers and making them part of the Mr. Green Africa supply chain in a sustainable way.
– AlphaMundi Group, a Swiss impact investing manager specialised in small enterprise finance in emerging markets, with a regional office in Nairobi, investing through its AlphaJiri Investment Fund.
– The BESTSELLER Foundation, a circular economy focused impact investor that helps innovators tackle one of the biggest challenges of our time.
– DOB Equity, a leading Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa.
– Global Innovation Fund, a non-profit innovation fund headquartered in London, that invests in the development, rigorous testing, and scaling of innovations targeted at improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.
By improving the output quality of its recycled plastics to a food-grade standard and significantly increasing the capacity, Mr. Green Africa will contribute to a broader circular plastics economy. The company plans to create a new sourcing stream by integrating consumers from all income brackets incentivised to deposit plastic waste back into the Mr. Green Africa collection systems.
Keiran Smith, co-founder and CEO of Mr. Green Africa, said, “We are delighted to bring together and align such diverse groups of partners and investors to join this journey of Mr. Green Africa. It’s a testament to the authenticity of the vision and purpose of what the company and its people stand for.”
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