Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) – a local-based company have been
awarded the 2022 Climate Tech Category Award 2022 which took place recently in
Paris, France.
Mr Bonnie Mbithi, WEE Centre, CEO addressing the delegates during the awarding ceremony in Paris-France.
“This is an award that not only puts WEEE centre of the African map but indeed on the
global map. This is evidence enough that the next big companies are those that
are focusing on solving global challenges related to climate change and matters
environment while impacting lives positively. I am humbled that there are so
many people who now believe in my dream of having a circular approach to
E-waste management. This award gives us every reason to appreciate our local
African startups that find solutions that can be implemented anywhere in the
world. Viva tech has given us a jump start into the next growth of the WEE centre as
we aim to become a continental company.” Says, Bonnie Mbithi, WEE Centre, CEO.In its 6th edition and organized by VivaTech which is the biggest startup and tech event
in Europe and recognized worldwide as a powerful catalyst for business
transformation, startup growth, and innovation for the common good. This year’s Vivatech tech conference had a total of 91,000 in-person visitors, from
146 Nationalities who were able to discover all the innovations and attend the
live conferences at the Porte de Versailles expo venue in Paris.The digital audience amounted to 300,000 visits and the VivaTech News channel to
more than 4.3 million. The event reached 400 million people and had more than 3
billion views on social networks.The prestigious award is a pan-African initiative developed to recognize and
support impactful start-ups across three key sectors, one being Climate Tech.
It aims to help create new market opportunities for emerging start-ups with
great impact potential in Africa, catalyzing support and inspiring action from
investors, policymakers, fellow entrepreneurs, and leading institutions in the
tech space.WEEE centre launched in 2012 has, since inception, processed over 10,000 tons of
e-waste equating to at least 14,400 CO2 emissions avoided and over $10.6M in
gold and other natural resources recovered! In turn, it has created over 600
green jobs. It currently has a presence in over 15 countries across the globe,
and emerged winner of the SME of the year in Leadership and management 2019 in
Kenya and First runner-up in the Sankalp Africa Awards 2021 as one of the 3
leading innovative companies in Africa.The Climate Tech Award is sponsored by New Energy Nexus, IFC and the proparco groupe AFD.
