Nigerian Startup, RecyclePoints, 9 Other African Startups Selected for MasterCard Foundation’s $200k Zambezi Prize

Nigerian waste recycling and social benefit startup, Recyclepoints is one of the 10 African Startup finalists of the 2018 edition of the Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion awards. The competition has been designed to unearth and celebrate startups that are solving Africa’s biggest financial inclusion challenges.

The 9 other selected companies include Apollo Agriculture (Kenya), Bidhaa Sasa (Kenya), FarmDrive (Kenya), Farmerline (Ghana), MaTontine (Senegal), OZE (Ghana), Tulaa (Kenya), Wala (South Africa)  and LanteOTC (South Africa).

The programme offers a total of $200,000 in prizes. The Grand Prize Winner will be awarded $100,000. Two runners-up will each receive $30,000. The seven other finalists will each receive $5,000 in cash prizes. The Legatum Center will also award a $5,000 prize to an African entrepreneur who has demonstrated great leadership qualities that have united Africa’s tech ecosystem.

The winners will also be invited to attend the Zambezi boot camp during the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) gala which will hold on the MIT campus in Boston, between November 5th-9th. They will also have the opportunity to compete for a $1 million prize at the IIC global event.

The finalists will join leaders from the MIT and African tech ecosystems in a two-day event, the 2018 MIT Open Mic Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 28th and 29th.  The event includes a VIP reception followed by the award ceremony at Strathmore University.

The prize has been put together by the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation. Speaking on the list, Georgina Campbell Flatter, the Executive Director of the MIT Legatum Center noted that the finalists “represent some of the world’s most innovative change agents.”

About Recyclepoints

RecyclePoints is Nigeria’s foremost waste recycling and social benefit venture that motivate post-consumers to recycle by creating value from their everyday waste.

The startup operates a point-based incentive model with which it collects Pure Water Sachets, PET Plastic Bottles, Used Beverage Cans, Glass bottles, Old Newspapers and Brown Corrugated Cartons from registered post-consumers and in turn reward them with points, which when accrued can be used to redeem household items and cash.

Points are allocated based on a Points Earning Chart where the quantity of items is equated to the number of points earned. RecyclePoints works in partnership with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) in waste recycling and sanitation advocacy.