Green Entrepreneurship Awards 2023 Celebrates Winners under Circular Economy

Berlin, Germany, 14^th July 2023: Today, adelphi announced the winners of the Green Entrepreneurship Awards 2023 under the Circular Economy supported by IKEA Foundation. A circular approach to business means embracing practices that minimise waste, promote resource efficiency, and prioritise the regeneration and reuse of materials, enabling a more sustainable and environmentally conscious economy. The awards scheme, a flagship event of adelphi’s Green Entrepreneurship programme, aims to identify the most innovative and promising locally led circular enterprises in Kenya and India, which are providing scalable solutions to circular economy challenges.

• In India:

  • Abhimanyu Singh, founder of Hexpressions, and Sahar Mansoor, founder of Bare Necessities Zero Waste Solutions. Hexpressions revolutionises the construction industry by providing affordable and sustainable homes to underserved communities through their composite paper honeycomb panels. By prioritising environmental and societal issues, Hexpressions empowers individuals, reduces carbon footprints, and offers dignified lives through permanent shelter and skill development.
  • Bare Necessities Zero Waste Solutions, founded by Sahar Mansoor. The company offers zero-waste alternatives to conventional personal, lifestyle, and home care products. With a female led manufacturing team, they handcraft PETA-certified products using ethically sourced ingredients, aiming to make it easier to make an environmentally and ethically conscious decision when purchasing lifestyle products. Their innovative zero water, circular approach seeks to revolutionise the FMCG industry and significantly reduce carbon footprints.

• In Kenya:

  • Elizabeth Mbogo, founder of Botanic Treasures, and Nicholas Ndekei, founder of Zihanga Ltd. Botanic Treasures manufactures delicious nutritional products using a circular cultivation based on a Moringa tree agroforestry system. The enterprise integrates underutilised plants and trees tolerant to droughts which promote resource efficiency, incentivize forest and land restoration, and provide sustainable food and income to the community.

  • Zihanga Ltd founded by Nicholas Ndekei, converts organic waste into valuable resources through affordable chicken colony cages. They empower families by increasing agricultural productivity and address social and environmental challenges. Zihanga's circular economy contributions include reducing organic waste through bioconversion, providing sustainable protein alternatives, and recycling plastic waste for building blocks and water tanks.

Ahmed Sameh, Programme Manager of IKEA Foundation, the primary supporter of the Circular Economy Awards, commented: “The winning enterprises are key to tackling crucial areas such as making food systems circular and sustainable, capturing the value of electronic waste, increasing water usage efficiency, designing out plastic waste and promoting slow fashion. Their work is driving scalable solutions to the challenges faced by circular economy practices. At IKEA Foundation, we want to congratulate every single one of them for their ground-breaking contributions to a more sustainable future. With these awards, our aim to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy, where resources are optimised, waste is minimised, and sustainable practices are embraced.”

Winner Sahar Mansoor, founder Bare Necessities Zero Waste Solutions commented: “We are thrilled and deeply honoured to be recognised as winners of the Green Entrepreneurship Awards 2023 under the Circular Economy category. At Bare Necessities Zero Waste Solutions, we are driven by the belief that conscious everyday consumption can make a profound impact on our planet. This award reaffirms our commitment to offering zero-waste alternatives and revolutionizing the FMCG industry through our super circular innovative waterless formats. We are grateful for the support and recognition, and we will continue our mission to make sustainable living accessible to all.”

Winner Elizabeth Mbogo, founder of Botanic Treasures commented: “We are incredibly honoured to be recognised as the Kenyan winner of the Green Entrepreneurship Awards 2023 under the Circular Economy category. Our mission at Botanic Treasures is to not only produce delicious nutritional products, but also to cultivate them in a way that aligns with the principles of circular economy. This recognition not only provides a platform for sharing our work but also inspires other entrepreneurs to embark on the circular economy journey, fostering a thriving ecosystem of sustainable businesses.”

Winners of the Green Entrepreneurship Awards under the Circular Economy Awards will be awarded with one-year Accelerator support and a grant of up to 15,000 EUR to make necessary investments to scale. Ten runners-up from each country will receive six-month Catalyser business development support and a grant of up to 5,000 EUR to make necessary investments to grow.

Get to know all the Circular Economy Leaders and get in touch here.

About adelphi

adelphi research gGmbH is a public policy consultancy and think-and-do tank focused on climate, environment and development. At adelphi, we work together with green enterprises, financial institutions and policy makers to unlock finance at scale to secure a climate-neutral and resilient tomorrow.

For more information, please visit: www.adelphi.de/en.

About IKEA Foundation

The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and quality of life while protecting the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €1.5 billion to create a better future for children and their families. In 2021 the Board of the IKEA Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion available over the next five years to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Learn more at: www.ikeafoundation.org.