Kodjo Afate Gnikou: turning waste into riches
Electronic waste around the world grew to 44.7 million
tonnes in 2016. 60 - 90% of this waste is being illegally traded
and sent to Asia and Western Africa. Just dealing with this
presents a real challenge, but imagine if you could turn it into
something useful and valuable.
A young inventor in Togo, Kodjo Afate Gnikou, did exactly
that in 2013, creating a cheap 3D printer using electronic
waste. Working from Woelab, a community for innovation and
a “space for democratic technology” in Togo’s capital city,
Lomé, he symbolizes the bottom-up development that is
occurring alongside more conventional approaches.
MeQasa: transforming Ghana’s property market
In 2013 a new tech start-up began to change the way
properties are rented and sold in Ghana. MeQasa is an online
platform that connects prospective buyers and tenants,
landlords, real estate agents and brokers to make the whole
process quick and easy. Two years later, MeQasa secured a
$500,000 investment from Frontier Digital Ventures, based in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 2018 MeQasa announced the
launch of two new mobile apps, together with a rebrand.