Nigerian entrepreneur, Chioma Ukonu, placed second at The Chivas Venture competition which took place in Los Angeles recently.

She achieved this result after pitching her idea, RecyclePoints, an incentive based recycling scheme, in front of a high profile panel including philanthropist, businesswoman and acclaimed actress, who also played Catwoman in the eponymous 2004 DC superhero move , Halle Berry.

For placing second, Ukonu received USD200 000 in funding. The winner, Siam Organic, received USD400 000.

Rewarding entrepreneurs

The Chivas Venture global competition, sponsored by Whisky brand, Chivas Regal, seeks the world’s most promising social entrepreneurs. Five finalists were awarded a share of USD1-million  in project funding in the final round of pitching.

RecyclePoints is a waste recycling and social benefit encouraging individuals to collect recyclable materials and then rewarding them with points. These can be accumulated and redeemed for cash or other useful items through an “i-Recycle Store”.

RecyclePoints also creates employment by getting young young “wastebusters” to ride electric tricycles to collect recyclables door to door. Jobs are also generated for otherwise unemployed women in communities who process these materials so they can be sold to recycling plants and then used to create new products.

Pitch perfect

The Final Pitch event was attended by a range of high profile entrepreneurs and movie stars including Javier Bardem and Don Cheadle.

Other finalists who were awarded funding include I-Drop Water (USD50 000) from South Africa which installs purification and dispensing units at the point of sale; Bioestibas (USD50 000) from Colombia, a company that produces ecological stowage made with flower waste that would otherwise polluting the environment, and Intendu (USD50 000) from Israel who have developed a videogame platform designed for brain training.

Winning words

Talking about her achievement, Chioma Ukonu said “I am extremely thankful and grateful for this opportunity and the support of the Chivas team in Nigeria, the public for their efforts in securing me the additional funds. When we entered this competition, our dream was to win enough in funding to roll out this business model in other parts of Nigeria. With this funding, we are able to do that quicker.”

 

Source: The Nation