Kenyan Companies win World Bank awards

Thirty-one environmental entrepreneurs from around the world were awarded with nearly $4 million in grants from the Bank's 2005 Development Marketplace Global Competition. More than 2,600 applicants from 136 countries submitted proposals in the annual worldwide competition, and 78 finalists came to Washington for the final judging. To view the complete list of the winners, please go to www.developmentmarketplace.org

1. Hawkers Market Girls Centre $84,703 Kenya Environmental education and awareness
To use education as a tool for conservation and improved livelihood for girls living in difficult and dangerous conditions. Kenya’s Hawkers Market is overflowing with large amounts of waste which has given rise to scavenging by young girls from economically disadvantaged families, who find materials that can be recycled or processed for small amounts of money.

2. Credit for Safe Collection of Used Oil $150,000 Kenya Protecting environmental health
To clean the Mukuru-Ngong River in Nairobi by encouraging vehicle mechanics to collect used engine oil instead of dumping it into the river. This project converts used oil into cash and/or loans through a credit points system, turning a pollutant into an income supplement and encouraging mechanics to collect used oil instead of discarding it.

3. Community Carbon Collectors: Briquetting in Kenya $132,773 Kenya Renewable energy and energy efficiency
To simultaneously reduce waste and energy costs in Nairobi’s slums by buying discarded charcoal dust and transforming it into low-cost, clean-burning briquettes. Fifteen percent of the charcoal, however, is discarded at urban trading sites as dust. Chardust, a company that produces fuel briquettes from charcoal dust, has teamed with an NGO that has an existing garbage collection program to encourage Kibera slum dwellers to act as “carbon collectors,” salvaging charcoal dust to sell to Chardust for processing into briquettes. Up to 300 lowincome slum dwellers would earn US$900 per month (equivalent to over a year’s income) as charcoal dust suppliers, and at least 1,000 charcoal-using households would benefit from lower fuel costs.