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Mombasa Plastics Prize

Climate Response
27/09/2022 - 09/05/2024
figure of a small child stood by the shore of a beach

The Mombasa Plastics Prize 

The Mombasa Plastics Prize, primarily funded by USAID and with support from Global Affairs Canada, aimed to encourage innovation and awareness of the plastic waste problem among youth innovators in Mombasa County, by inspiring the development of solutions that tackle the issue of marine plastic waste mismanagement, especially within informal settlements.

The program was delivered by Challenge Works in close collaboration with other organisations working across the innovation ecosystem in Mombasa County and beyond.

This prize built on the work of the Afri-Plastics Challenge, funded by Global Affairs Canada, which aims to reduce marine plastics in sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement.

The Mombasa Plastics Prize Incubator

From 2023 to 2024, the MPP Incubator aimed to reduce marine plastics waste in Mombasa County’s informal settlements by driving the development of youth-led sustainable businesses.

It followed on from the successful initial phase of Mombasa Plastics Prize (MPP), which took place between September 2022 and May 2023 and supported 57 young entrepreneurs.

The MPP Incubator worked with nine teams from MPP to progress their prototypes into sustainable businesses. These teams were on a journey to become sustainable businesses tackling plastic waste pollution. The MPP Incubator provided them with access to bespoke capacity-building support and partnerships to advance their incredible efforts to tackle this pertinent and pressing issue, and build on their impact across Mombasa County and beyond.

At the end of the process, the nine teams celebrated their achievements at an exciting Enterprise Event, which highlighted the outstanding work they had each done to set a benchmark for sustainable development in Mombasa and beyond; cumulatively collecting over 23 tonnes of waste and creating a pipeline of 545 green jobs.

Of the nine enterprises formed during the Incubator phase…

  • 77% have a solution with a well-defined product-market fit
  • 77% have investment potential
  • 67% were in the process of establishing partnerships at the end of the program
  • 55% started generating income by the end of the program
  • 33% secured investors by the end of the program, with a further 33% working towards short-term follow-ups with potential investors
  • 100% connected with other organisations and individuals involved in the innovation and waste management ecosystems in Mombasa
  • 89% employed at least one full or part-time staff by the end of the program