Jean Bosco Nzeyimana Turning Waste Into Opportunity

Jean Bosco Nzeyimana Turning Waste Into Opportunity.

Nzeyimana didn’t let tough circumstances stop him from becoming an entrepreneur. Notwithstanding, he grew up in a neighbourhood struggling with poverty and poor sanitation. Nevertheless, every day, he saw challenges all around him. In fact, firewood was the only cooking option, although it came with problems. Moreover, finding wood was hard, and burning it caused health issues in his community. Nzeyimana felt he needed to take action by all means.

A Vision for Sustainable Solutions

“I wanted to be part of a sustainable solution,” he said. He undoubtedly aimed to address the lack of power, sanitation, and poverty in Kitabi. His idea? Primarily, composting waste into clean cooking fuel and creating other eco-friendly products.

Moreover, In college, he researched transforming waste into green products like biogas, compost, and briquettes. Nzeyimana by all means wanted to reduce his community’s dependence on firewood. The rainy season further made wood even harder to find.

Jean Bosco Nzeyimana Turning Waste Into Opportunity- The Birth of Habona Ltd

Significantly, In 2013, at just 18, Nzeyimana founded Habona Ltd. Additionally, he was still a student at the University of Rwanda’s College of Business and Economics. Presently, his company now produces 20 tons of briquettes monthly and employs over 100 people. On the contrary, he studied business administration to lead a private enterprise solving big problems.

Nonetheless, his university training helped him create a business plan. Subsequently, with little capital, he formed a team to collect waste in Nyamagabe town. They specifically gathered waste from homes and transported it to a central processing site. There, they sorted it: degradable waste became manure, briquettes, or biogas, while non-degradable waste was recycled.

Recognition and Early Wins

“You don’t need money to get started,” he thought confidently. “Lack of funds didn’t discourage us. In other words. we just thought outside the box to raise capital.”

However, In 2014, he entered the African Innovation Prize and won Rwf2 million ($2,700) for Habona. Also, that year, he won Rwanda’s Young Innovator Award and trained in India with nine other African entrepreneurs. In 2015, through the YALI fellowship, he received $25,000 from the US African Development Foundation to expand his project.