In Sierra Leone, coconuts are a household favourite. Locals eat the flesh and drink the juice. Now a young eco-entrepreneur initiative, the discarded husk has been put to good use.
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00:00This is what they use to prepare their daily meal.
00:07Charcoal comes from wood.
00:10It is not healthy for the planet.
00:12Seventy percent of the deforestation in Sierra Leone is being used to produce charcoal.
00:16You cannot tell somebody to use charcoal to cook without giving them an alternative, which
00:20is something that they can't afford.
00:22We all know charcoal is not good, but gas is expensive.
00:26I've found out that you can kill two birds with one stone using biomass waste to produce
00:30something that can be used as an alternative.
00:33My name is Alhaji Ahmad Sirajba.
00:35I'm the founder of Rooksard Trading.
00:46Sierra Leone is a coastal country with lots of coconut trees.
00:49Sierra Leoneans love eating coconut a lot.
00:51They drink the juice, eat the flesh, and discard the coconut shells, but it doesn't
00:57go to waste because we use it to produce eco-friendly biobrickage.
01:00Every part of the coconut is being utilized.
01:03We start by collecting the coconut waste in various areas across Freetown.
01:10We have to bring it to our production site, dump it on the site, leave it for a week for
01:14it to dry at least, to reduce the moisture content.
01:18We carbonize it in drums, but we just acquired some machines that can increase production.
01:23Then we grind it.
01:27After we've mixed it with our binder, we extrude it using hydraulic press.
01:31Then after that, we have to dry it, package it, then take it out to the customers.
01:38It is labor intensive.
01:43In Africa and in Sierra Leone, bringing something that is new to the population is crazy.
01:49People have been using charcoal for centuries.
01:52Changing that, telling them that this is something better and easier for you to use than what
01:57you've been using for generations, takes time.
02:01We do not have the funds to do this extensive marketing in creating awareness.
02:08I'm just a young dude coming from nowhere.
02:10I had no connection, I have nobody.
02:14We started from nothing.
02:15We started with just $20.
02:18I'm facing problems that every young entrepreneur faces.
02:22Finances are one of the biggest challenges.
02:25Most times I get challenges and I'll be like, I need to stop, but I wake up in the morning
02:29and I come back to work.
02:31This is not just a fight for us, it is a fight for everyone, for planet earth and for humanity.
02:4090-95% of the population uses charcoal to cook.
02:44It produces so much smoke.
02:46It is not healthy for their own use.
02:48It is not healthy for the planet.
02:50It is not good for people around them.
02:53In fact, a report from WHO says that smoke from charcoal claims more than 4 million lives
02:57annually.
02:58That is more than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined.
03:01I had to create awareness about the existence of this product to people in communities.
03:07Mostly what we care about in Africa is about price.
03:09What we're doing is to try to get this thing way more cheaper than what they have been
03:13using, so we can use price as an advantage for us to be able to capture the market.
03:19So I use the produce to take this into the market.
03:23We start by telling them that this is cheaper than what you've been using.
03:26Also, this is not just about the price.
03:28It's good for them in various ways.
03:30What we do is explain to them to understand what we're doing and what we are fighting
03:34against.
03:35I'm against deforestation because it causes a lot of problems and we need to cut the
03:39down trees to produce charcoal.
03:41So the deforested areas become vulnerable to landslide.
03:47Using this bio-bricket from coconut shells helps to clean the environment.
03:51It helps to minimize deforestation.
03:55We are providing something that is smokeless to these people out there.
03:59It brings in economic benefit because it lasts longer.
04:02It burns four hours longer than normal charcoal.
04:06To cook charcoal before, you have to use three packets of it to cook rice and soup.
04:12When I'm using the coconut bricket, you can use it for like one or two days.
04:18The one kg.
04:19You just put the amount you want and then you start cooking effortlessly.
04:25Siaj is doing a great job.
04:27It's inspiring.
04:31I tried to convince one of my friends who was using the wood and charcoal as well.
04:36I can recommend this coconut bricket to as many people as I can because it has helped
04:42me a lot.
04:43You can try it and then you thank me later.
04:49We keep on going because of what we're doing and the impact we're creating in society.
04:53We've saved thousands of trees since we started because we've been able to produce more than
04:56300 tons of bio-brickets.
04:59We've created employment and families are being fed because of us and what we are doing
05:04today.
05:05Two years ago, we decided to expand not just by using coconut shells.
05:12If we want to take this thing nationwide, coconut might not be enough for us to serve
05:20the Sierra Leone population.
05:24We did research and we have so many formulas.
05:26We have various types of raw material, all sorts of biomass waste that can be able to
05:30use and turn it to bio-bricket.
05:34My plan is to have a company across the region, create more employment opportunity because
05:41youth unemployment is one of the biggest problems in Africa.
05:44These things keep me going.
05:46It is not a smooth sail, but we'll get there.
05:56www.globalonenessproject.org