Edgar Edmund

Edgar Edmund is the founder of Green Venture Recycles, a company turning plastic waste into cheap and affordable building products in Tanzania. With a workforce of six employees, Green Venture Recycles has so far transformed more than 20 million plastic bags into over 20,000 bricks for use in constructing homes. On the importance of his company’s work, Mr Edmund says: “Tanzania is a developing country, hence most of the people here are low–income earners. There is a high demand for affordable products which could at least enable many people to own their own houses regardless of their low incomes.” 

Mr Edmund was inspired to create his business when, at the age of 15, he saw floods sweep away mud houses in his country. He set out to not only provide an alternative to expensive cement materials, which many people cannot afford, but also to tackle the pollution that was causing a wide range of diseases as a result of poor waste management. 

Through his work, Mr Edmund has won the Anzisha Prize 2017, for Africa’s young entrepreneur, the Children Climate Prize 2017 and the Global Financial Inclusion Award 2018, and has spoken at events including the One Young World summit in 2018. 

Speaking at the following WCEF2019 sessions:

Monday 3 June at 14.30-16.00: The circular economy in Africa