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Close the Gap & CTG Circular open a state of the art IT refurbishment centre in Mombasa, Kenya, for the East-African Region

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Close the Gap is an international social enterprise that aims to bridge the digital divide by offering high quality, pre-owned computers to educational, medical, entrepreneurial and social projects in developing and emerging countries.

Over the past 17 years Close the Gap has collected & processed over 1 million devices worldwide, whereby all assets were collected & processed in Europe, to be then shipped to projects worldwide. Given the fact that Close the Gap has been working closely with projects in the entire African continent, and since there are more and more high quality computers becoming available in the African continent, Close the Gap has decided to open several hubs in Africa to be able to process used IT equipment locally for reuse. The first hub, named Circular Economy Hub (CEH), has been established in Mombasa, Kenya, which is logistically the best place to set up logistics within the East African region.

The CEH in Mombasa is a 2500 m² workplace that has been build to match the quality offered by all IT asset refurbishers that work with Close the Gap, like CTG Circular. CTG Circular is the partner that delivers all knowledge & processes to make sure that this CEH meets all international quality criteria. This implies strictly monitored processes to guarantee data protection (incl. a data wipe with Blancco), stringent monitoring of all assets & materials, a strict e-waste handling, and a top-nudge refurbishment & repair service that delivers high quality low cost computers to all selected projects in the region. For more info and a sneak preview of this facility, do not hesitate to check out these 2 short movies (see LINK & LINK).

Since there is no refurbishment of IT possible without also facing the challenges of e-waste, the CEH also builds on the extensive knowledge that Close the Gap’s sister organisation WorldLoop has built over the past years. WorldLoop has been assisting companies all over the world in building capacity to be able to process e-waste correctly, and this knowledge is now put to practice here as well.

Good to know: next to this IT asset reuse operation, Close the Gap also operates a full-fledge entrepreneurship program, incl. a makerspace & professional coworking facility, focused on offering opportunities to local youth that want to set up a business to face the local challenges they face every day – very often related to developing innovative circular economy start-ups.

For more info, see these relevant links:

See also these pictures that might be interesting to use in the article:

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