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RecyclePoints wins Nigeria’s The Venture, takes home N1Million

By Tobi Awodipe
31 December 2016   |   3:43 am
RecyclePoints, an incentive-based recycling scheme that deploys the use of electric cargo tricycles, the first of its kind in Nigeria, has been announced as the Nigeria winner of The Venture...

venture

RecyclePoints, an incentive-based recycling scheme that deploys the use of electric cargo tricycles, the first of its kind in Nigeria, has been announced as the Nigeria winner of The Venture, Chivas’ global competition, to find and support the most exciting social enterprises.

This week saw the exciting conclusion to the finals in Lagos, where Chioma Ukonu, co-founder of RecyclePoints, scooped the N1 million prize money and bespoke business mentoring. She will represent Nigeria in the Global Final in Los Angeles in July 2017, where she will compete with social entrepreneurs from 31 countries across six continents for a share of the $1 million fund earmarked to take their businesses to the next level.

Ahead of the Global Final, RecylePoints will also attend The Venture’s Accelerator Week at the Skoll Centre, Oxford University, UK in March where the global finalists will take part in intensive business master classes and receive expert mentoring from some of the biggest and most influential names in business.

The final in Nigeria saw the three shortlisted finalists pitch to a team of industry leaders which included: Audu Maikori (President Choc City Group), Shola Ladoja (Founder Simply Green Juice), Peace Hyde (Award winning journalist and West Africa Correspondent, Forbes), Nneka Okekaru (Deputy Director, Enterprise Development Centre), Olivier Fages (Managing Director, Pernod Ricard Nigeria). RecyclePoints impressed the panel with its potential scalability and a solid financial inclusion model.

Accepting the award, Ukonu admitted: “My partner and I are absolutely delighted to have been chosen as Nigeria’s winners. For us, this initiative offers the incredible opportunity to receive world-class business mentoring and global publicity, which would help us reach a million homes by 2017 and establish our business in additional five states within the federation.”

Audu Maikori, member of the panel that picked the winner said their business model was really impressive.

“They have already witnessed an increase of 70% with the introduction of the electric cargo tricycles and their plan to introduce the iRecycle kiosk in the coming year, which will create further jobs for the youths and women around the continent is unique. With The Venture’s support and global platform, the next year for RecyclePoints could be quite incredible,” he said.

The Venture was open to any for-profit-start-up that creates both financial value and a positive impact on the lives of others. The three businesses shortlisted to go head-to-head in the Nigeria final are:

RecyclePoints (Chioma Ukonu, Founder)
The service: RecyclePoints is an incentive based recycling scheme that recovers numerous valuable materials disposed by consumers through a model built around a community-based waste processing enterprise called CoSoHUB (Collection and Sorting Hub).

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