Cote d’ Ivoire waste management startup Coliba, which has built a waste and recycling management platform, has added another feather to its funding cap after it secured investment from Belgian businessman Rudi De Kerpel.
Coliba has created a waste management web and mobile application that unites households and businesses with affiliated plastic waste collectors.
The startup uses the principles of the circular economy to curb the problem of plastic waste in Cote d’ Ivoire, allowing users to earn airtime or discounts on certain products through recycling.
Coliba’s app tracks a user’s bottle collection progress and efficiently sends out agents for collection. Last year, the platform raised equity funding from the Dakar Network Angels, and in 2018, another from grant cash from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator, and in March it secured investment from German firm GreenTec Capital Partners
The startup has now raised more funds from De Kerpel, who has advanced experience in the circular economy and invested an undisclosed amount.
The invested funds will aid Coliba, which is operational in Ghana, secured a few acres of land on the outskirts of Accra, the Ghanaian capital for a new PET washing line, and to help in increasing its collection and processing rate.
Coliba Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prince Agbata, had this to say about Rudi De Kerpel:
“Not only is Rudi an investor that sits on our board, but he also brings decades of experience from the circular economy space as he is a known investor in Goodless, a circular economy company in Belgium.
Rudi brings his deep passion for the environment and we are happy to have him join us as we move to the next stage as a company,”
More than five million tonnes of waste are generated yearly in Cote d’ Ivoire, with under half of the current waste collected, and just three percent of it is recycled.
Ninety-four percent of key-players in the plastic waste economy function within the informal sector and on the fringe of the recycled plastics value chain.
Coliba’s platform handles these issues by offering formal employment opportunities in waste management, creating over 50 jobs, and boasts of an impressive 77 percent female employment rate.
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