Ghana's Climate Innovation Center acts as an incubator for green start-ups. We look at two innovative companies that are breathing new life into former waste products.
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00:00Moringa leaves, cassava peel, maize, uninspiring as they look, these plants and plant waste are being used to grow flourishing businesses.
00:15Kilos and kilos of cassava peel is thrown out every day. The root vegetable is a popular food in Ghana.
00:24Ethel Amwaku and Ebenezer Koh decided all this vegetable waste was worth rescuing.
00:34For the last 10 years, they have run a business specialized in growing oyster mushrooms.
00:41The cultivation process uses agricultural waste, some of which would otherwise be burned in the fields.
00:49Growing up in a farming community, I realized most of our farmers don't have alternative ways to dispose of their agricultural waste.
00:58All they do is to burn their farmland, prepare the land for the next farming season.
01:03When they do that, it causes respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and even damage to wildlife.
01:09And I realized we can actually use agricultural waste to produce something beneficial.
01:15Not just only that, it will elevate poverty, put food on our table, and generate income.
01:21That's why I chose this line of business.
01:24And farmer Olivia Che also profits from that business.
01:29She grows mainly maize on her two hectares.
01:32Maize cultivation produces a lot of agricultural residue.
01:37Ever since the mushroom business came to our community, I no longer burn my farmland like I used to.
01:45Nowadays, I gather the waste from my farm and sell it to the mushroom company in the village.
01:51Apart from paying us for the waste, they sometimes give us the organic compost from the factory after production,
01:58so we can use it as fertilizer on the farm and don't need to spray chemicals.
02:03Entrepreneur Kwame Williams started a company that manufactures products from the moringa tree.
02:10Its leaves contain important protein and fatty acids, as well as a wide range of vitamins and minerals.
02:18A graduate of MIT in the U.S., William founded his startup 10 years ago, making powders, juices, and creams.
02:27But he says entrepreneurs in Ghana face a lot of challenges.
02:33We have had situations where we're trying to get a local certification and we meet all the requirements.
02:43Everything has even been done. There's a letter saying it's approved.
02:46And it takes 14 months, not an exaggeration, 14 months to get the actual physical certificate.
02:51A lengthy process that means a delay in the products reaching the market.
02:56But Kwame Williams built up an extensive network of moringa farmers in the region around Esuboye.
03:03Farmers haven't always seen moringa as a profitable plant, but now they work with the company.
03:11They have regular customers for their fresh leaves, suited for processing.
03:15In the last 10 years, farmers have also planted around 2 million more of these miracle trees from seeds.
03:23The harvest is taken from the farms to a factory in Nsawam, 36 kilometers away from Ghana's capital Accra.
03:31Here, the leaves are dried, processed, and packaged also for export.
03:37We believe that what's grown in Ghana should also be processed in Ghana.
03:42We believe that what's grown in Ghana should also be processed in Ghana.
03:45So we do all the primary processing of our products.
03:48Seeds into oil right here in Ghana.
03:50Leaves, fresh leaves into dried leaves and powders and teas right here in Ghana.
03:55So that way we're creating jobs and I'm happy to share that we now employ nearly 90 people across our value chain.
04:02Other sustainable businesses like his also receive support from the Ghana Climate Innovation Center.
04:08It offers regular trainings and also capitals for start-ups.
04:13We provide you with a business advisor that works one-to-one with you and your team members.
04:18So the business advisor works with you on certain related activities to bring about operational efficiency,
04:28but also to ensure that you minimize your carbon footprint.
04:32Like the mushroom growers, with the support of the Innovation Center,
04:37they used exclusively locally sourced materials for their factory.
04:42Production is also low emission.
04:45Only the composted vegetable waste is needed for their mushroom spores.
04:50The mushrooms are ready to harvest after a month.
04:53Demand is very huge.
04:55We are not even able to meet just a quarter of that demand that our customers are yearning for every day.
05:00The company sells around 1,000 kilograms of oyster mushrooms a month.
05:06The start-ups welcome this development and so do the farmers.