“I’m used to being the odd one out”
On this episode, I discuss waste, upcycling and making social impact with Wecyclers’ CEO, Bilikiss Abiola.
I met Bilikiss in 2015, and the first thing that struck me was her passion. Bilikiss is a force. And I have huge respect for her and what she is doing. It was a pleasure to sit down with her to have this interview in Lagos.
Wecyclers offers a convenient recycling service using a fleet of low-cost cargo bikes. In exchange for waste, low-income households earn redeemable points which can be used to buy food and other items.
In April, Wecyclers partnered with Lagos State Waste Management (LAWMA) for the #LagosIsRecycling Campaign in partnership with Unilever, DHL, Nigerian Bottling Company, UKAID, FCMB, and others.
More recently, Bilikiss was awarded the prestigious ‘International Grand Prize’ at Le Monde’s Smart Cities Innovation Awards for her work with Wecyclers.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn…
- How Wecyclers is disrupting and reshaping existing scavenger economy, and creating new jobs in the process
- How to convince your non-Nigerian cofounder to move to Nigeria from MIT
- How to write cold emails and hassle people to give you a meeting if you have a B2B product
- About the potential of waste management in Africa. There are lots of money to unlock and lots of work to be done
- How to shape the future by building platforms that other people can build on
I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
Selected Links from this Episode
- MIT
- Lifebank
- Sunstretch
- Mamalette
- Printivo
- LSETF
- The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
- Sterile Sky by Emmanuel Sule
