Tech Trends: Fostering Innovation in the Cleantech Sector

Every year, millions of tons of waste are produced worldwide with no signs of it slowing down.

Statistics from the World Bank states that with rapid population growth and urbanization, annual waste generation is expected to increase by 70% to 3.4 billion metric tons in 2050.

Also, a report published in June 2020 by the United Nations global e-waste monitor states that global e-waste has surged up to 21% in just five years, with a record 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste generated worldwide in 2019.

To tackle this environmental problem, cleantech startups are at the forefront of this movement.

This use of clean technology significantly improves energy efficiency and enables the sustainable use of resources or environmental protection activities.

In this week’s Tech Trends episode, Tope Sulaimon (Co-Founder, Scrapays), discusses the issues in the cleantech industry.

CFA: Hey Tope, glad to have you on Tech Trends today.

Tope: Thank you very much CFA for having me. It’s a pleasure.

CFA: Awesome. Let’s start by getting your take on the startup ecosystem today.

Tope: So, the startup ecosystem in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, is quite a very interesting one, with the fintech guys here and there, taking all of the big wins, and more and more of them coming up on it on a day-to-day basis.

Outside of that, there are also very fantastic edtech companies, cleantech companies that are also doing amazing stuff but are yet to get the amount of recognition that the fintech guys have gotten so far, but I’m sure that in the next couple of month or years, they would also get to that place and be able to call that much attention to themselves as well.

CFA: You know, it’s interesting you mentioned fintech. Sometimes, I wonder how startups like you would feel with all the… (watch full episode here)

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