Sustainable cities and territories #8. Our series in partnership with the Africa-France 2020 Summit.
GreenTec Capital Partners is giving a boost to waste recovery in Kenya. The German investment company decided on February 13, 2020 to invest in the Kenyan start-up Ecodudu, specialised in waste recovery. GreenTec Capital Partners offers the Nairobi-based start-up team innovative support based on a unique investment model called “Result4Equity”.
The system combines operational support and financial investments. It will enable the start-up to obtain up to 25,000 euros (2.7 million Kenyan shillings) in interest-free loans to finance and support the development of its projects. Ecodudu has already set up a successful organic waste recovery process.
How does Ecodudu recover waste?
Created in 2017, the start-up Ecodudu operates in the value chains of animal feed and agricultural inputs in Kenya. The young company has developed an innovative process to produce feed for aquaculture and the nutrition of many other animal species. The company also produces nutritious organic fertilisers.
The approach is simple but original. In order to produce feed, the Ecodudu team uses nature’s recycling agents, especially insects. It chooses fly larvae because they produce long-lasting and highly nutritious proteins.
Cultivation of fly larvae in the facilities of the start-up©Ecodudu
On contact with fly larvae, organic waste is converted into protein-rich biomass. As adult larvae, the flies are dried and supplied in bulk to feed manufacturers for commercial use. At the end of the process, the waste is transformed into an organic fertiliser called “Shamba Mix”. “The feed produced has a higher protein density than that of soybeans,” says an Ecodu
The investment in the start-up Ecodudu will complement GreenTec Capital’s existing portfolio in Africa. The company wants to strengthen its position on the old continent. It plans to make further investments in African start-ups with high growth potential this year. In October 2019, the institution signed an agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD) to make credit lines of around 80,000 euros (about 9 million Kenyan shillings) available to pre-selected start-ups during the first year of investment. In return, GreenTec Capital Partners will obtain a minority equity stake in the selected start-ups.
Inès Magoum