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Alex Mativo,19, and a student at the University of Nairobi in Kenya pursuing a bachelors degree in Computer Science has founded E-Lab, a startup founded that aims at eradicating electronic waste in Nairobi Kenya, then expand to cities in Africa.
Mativo, E-Lab’s CEO told TechMoran, E-waste is “a rather new environmental problem due to Africa’s exponential growth in the number of mobile phone users and electronics over the last couple of years.”
He therefore founded E-Lab to promote a culture of safe and responsible e-waste disposal among Kenyans.
“Instead of the old system of collecting and dumping. We will use art as a platform for this initiative where we seek to transform this hazardous e-waste into innovative products such as art pieces, jewellery, shoes and sculptures.”
The startup will then use the art pieces, jewellery and shoes for an anti-jigger campaigns in rural areas of Kenya. Copper and other metallic materials will be channeled to the “juakali”, Kenya’s informal artisan industry to produce metallic money boxes which E-lab aims to use in a campaign to promote saving among the youth. The process will also give youths jobs across the country.
The two months-old startup aims to set up a community e-waste collection system to help firms, institutions and industries sort out and dump their e-waste then E-Lab would channel it to its network of entrepreneurs to come up with innovative products. E-Lab has been featured among the 50 most brilliant startups for the Global Entrepreneurship Week by Istart and Kauffman Foundation and on Startup Open.
