[wanabidii] Green Planet - Student environmental entrepreneur wins an award

Diana Kerubo Mong'are, a first year student of Financial Economics at Strathmore University, started a project to clean up her Nakuru neighbourhood which is promising to make her a successful entrepreneur. In February 2012, a few months after completing secondary school, Ms Mong'are launched Planet Green project. She persuaded her neighbours to start recycling their plastics and paper and she gave local carpenters incentives to stop burning sawdust. She has also helped nurture environmental clubs in two primary schools.   Barely four months after Planet Green burst into life, Ms Mong'are caught the eye of international investors, bagging a KSh1.6 million award to grow the project into a booming business.   Her idea places her among a growing group of entrepreneurs in the world with a conscience for the environment - green entrepreneurs. She believes that one can make money without destroying mother nature. "I want to earn enough money to sustain myself. If I cannot make this money while giving back to the society and environment, I do not see the purpose of it all," she said.   Ms Mong'are said the environmental impact of her project was instrumental in earning her the first runner's up position at the recent Anzisha Prize awards in South Africa.   To back up her assertion, she says the top prize went to an environmentally conscientious entrepreneur - Uganda's Andrew Mupaya. He received KSh2.52 million for his biodegradable paper bag business, which was started after the manufacture of polythene bags was banned in Uganda. Investors are eager to pour money into green projects. The going is not easy, as Ms Mong'are found out when she set out to educate her neighbourhood about separating recyclable and non-recyclable waste. Some people insisted on disposing of their garbage at a nearby dump site.   "I had to ask the watchmen to guard the dump site at night. Otherwise, people would still throw their garbage there because it was the easy way out," she says.   Through persistence, Green Planet now serves 50 households. It also sells sawdust to chicken farmers. Ms Mong'are plans to help chicken farmers find a market for the sawdust as manure.   Source --- On Tue, 10/9/12, odhiambo okecth <komarockswatch@yahoo.com> wrote: From: odhiambo okecth <komarockswatch@yahoo.com> Subject: [YP_Ke] Dr James Mwangi on Vision 2030 To: "Sungu Otieno" <otienoraphael@gmail.com>, "The Editor" <editor@africanexecutive.com>, "Wanabidii" <wanabidii@googlegroups.com> Cc: Siasa-Kenya@yahoogroups.com, talkhard@yahoogroups.com, talknigeria@yahoogroups.com, "the last word to kenya" <thelastwordtokenya@yahoogroups.com>, "Vugu Vugu" <vuguvugumashinani@yahoogroups.com>, wananchi@yahoogroups.com, "Watchman" <watchman@nation.co.ke>, "Weekly Citizen" <citnewspaper@yahoo.com>, "YP" <youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com> Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2012, 4:16 AM Friends, We need bold leaders who are able to stand up and tell you the truth- however bitter it may be. And one such leader is Dr. James Mwangi- the MD and CEO at Equity Bank Ltd. He is also the Chairman of Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat. Dr Mwangi has come out and doubted the efficacy of Vision 2030, and asked, are Kenyans feeling Vision 2030? Turn it the other way round; what are we doing as a People to Live Vision 2030? Now, this is a tough question, for in Vision 2030, we have broad theories, utopian as they are, but very practical towards moving Kenya to the next level. I have taken time to go through the Medium Term Goals and as good as their intended actions are on paper, they are wanting on the ground. And we do not want to be reminded of Water for all by the year 2,000. The year 2,000 came and went and no water was realized for all. Kenya will be celebrating our Silver Jubilee on the 1st June 2013, and try as we want, I am certain we will not achieve the basic 3 issues we set out to achieve at Independence - ie Poverty, disease and ignorance. Our level of ignorance has just recently been manifested in Parliament, where against the expectations of the Country and the People, our Members of Parliament voted in the night to award themselves hefty send off pay cheques. I am very keen on the Economic Pillar of Vision 2030, especially on Environmental Management. This is one area that can address the question of unemployment in Kenya and spur the Country towards greater economic gains. But who cares? Some of the people charged with managing this sector are completely not in sync with the National Aspirations. They are not seeing the massive opportunity waste and garbage present to our economy. A good approach to Environmental Management where waste is separated at source offers lots of employment opportunities to our people. This then would mean, we can take our Children to school easily, pay our medical insurance scheme easily, invest in real estate, or pay our rents. It will place bread on the table and reduce the culture of dependence and hand-outs. And it will in-spur some economic revolution, or rather, the Waste Revolution. This will mean having an empowered lot, a people who can make conscience decisions when it comes to choosing leadership at all levels.It will reduce economic disparity and create some sense of brotherhood. But the easier way out is to subjugate the people with theories and more theories, just because an empowered lot cannot be easily manipulated. It is hence in the interest of the political class that Vision 2030 is not achieved. They see the realization of what this Vision portends for Kenya as an affront to their voting base, where the masses of people are left to wallow in poverty as a tool for political reactivation. But then, Kenya is moving forward, and we are discarding our ways of before. New leaders are emerging and with that, new thought processes, where emphasis is being placed on rapid development and service delivery. We must not loose hope. We must rally each one of us to simply play his part. We must move From Talking to Tasking as we address the plight of our people. This is way, at The Clean Kenya Campaign, we are inviting Kenyans to help clean their immediate neighbourhoods and help make Kenya Clean as our collective Transformative Deliverable when Kenya turns 50. And we want it organized; where diffferent groups pick different waste and deliver the same to a definite point. As we do this, we must not lay blame and look to the past. We must look to the future and remain optimistic that a Clean Kenya is within our reach. Lastly, we must appreciate the Team of Digital Technocrats in Government, men and women who have promised to serve and in Mother Kenya they believe. We are proud to have you as members of The Clean Kenya Campaign. TCKC SUPPLEMENT.pdf -- Hi All   Here is a preview of our last League of Young Professionals Meeting... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEEhBMvw9Ag&feature=youtu.be   Join us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/LYP.Kenya for regular updates

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