Business Boot Camp for E-Waste recyclers was concluded successfully
The first edition of the E-waste Business Boot Camp (BBC) took place from 10-14th September in Berlin, with the aim of providing focused skills and knowledge to e-waste entrepreneurs based in developing and emerging countries, and to provide a platform for exchange on experiences from different contexts. 23 SME entrepreneurs took part from 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, representing a diverse mix of e-waste management systems and approaches. During the week the participants received expert inputs on both how to operate more successful business models, develop more environmentally friendly e-waste management solutions, access financing and international business opportunities and scale up.
The group visited the Remondis Fridge Recycling plant in Berlin, where participants had the opportunity to learn about the full chain of fridge recycling, from collection, dismantling, processing, and material recovery. A networking dinner offered further opportunity to discuss experiences and exchange ideas among participants, and on the last day, a pitching session was organized to give the opportunity to each participant to present his/her business and activities to a jury and collect feedback and advice on possible improvement. The jury included representatives from EIT RawMaterials, Impact Hub, Afrolynk, and the GIZ Make IT initiative. Participants will go on to develop and improve e-waste recycling activities in their countries, improve their business operations as well as maintain their new contacts from the BBC. We thank all our experts, jury and participants for joining the workshop with great enthusiasm and inputs, as well as Remondis for their great site visit.
The workshop was implemented by United Nations University Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) Programme in partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The main sponsor was the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) via GIZ project “Concepts for Sustainable Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy”, with additional sponsorship coming from World Resources Forum (WRF) and SERI.
