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Venture: U-Recycle

Founder: Oluwaseyi Moejoh

Website: www.urecycleinitiative.org/

Story:

Oluwaseyi Moejoh is the founder of the U-recycle Initiative. U-recycle Initiative is a social enterprise that educates schools and communities about the value of recycling by creating programs and proffering deep-rooted solutions to make recycling waste more efficient and customary across schools and districts in Africa. Seyi is a 19-year-old environmentalist and law student with deep interests in environmental justice, circular economy and ocean protection. In January 2020, she received the 2020 Youth-in-Development Fellowship organized by the Impact Toolbox and the Sozo Networks. She was offered a grant for her U-Recycle Initiative by Impact Toolbox. According to Seyi, interacting with the instructors and mentors was a significant highlight of her change-making journey.

Our decision to invest in Oluwaseyi’s U-Recycle Initiative stemmed from the urgency of human commitments and informed actions towards reversing some of the harmful effects of daily human activities that are detrimental to the environment easily replaceable with healthy alternatives. There is a tendency to see climate change and sustainable environmental practices as first-world challenges in developing countries. Yet, global data about pollution shows that just as climate change is a universal threat, pollution is a worldwide phenomenon.

Seyi’s is one of the few strategic attempts to create awareness about the dangers that seemingly negligible behaviours pose to the environment and teach sustainable environmental practices to a large audience hence our decision to support her.

She further describes the training via impact toolbox and the fellowship programs as providing her with “so much clarity and knowledge on how to thrive in the social impact space.” She added that “it was eye-opening, insightful and very transformative. We learnt from bright minds, and the fellowship’s curriculum was very encompassing, providing us with practical tools and steps to use what we learnt directly and immediately into the work that we do.”

She was mentored directly by the Founder of Impact Toolbox, Dr. Segun Fatudimu. Oluwaseyi credits him with providing her with robust guidance and knowledge on actualizing her dreams without compromising standards. Impact Toolbox provides valuable resources from the ideation to the fruition of social change ideas. After finishing, Oluwaseyi Moejoh has received a lot of recognition for the impact of her work. She is a 2020 Africave fellow, a 2020 Squad Leader at the Ocean Heroes Network, and recently emerged as a 2020 National Geographic Young Explorer. She featured on various local and international media and radio stations, including BBC World Service, International Recycling Today Magazine, and Conde Nast Traveller. Seyi’s success story is an ongoing feat. Her current projects, including African Youth for the Environment (AY4E) Fellowship, the Litterathon Challenge, Green A Classroom Project, Eco-toilet project, #DitchPlasticStraw Campaign and the Recycle@School project, will proceed with the full support of Impact Toolbox.