2023-10-15 22:01:08
Addis Ababa hosts the next African Startup Awards from October 25 to 27 to reward the best start-ups in Africa. To represent the host country, the two selected start-ups have both found a solution to reuse waste from coffee cultivation and consumption. Objective: to reduce the pollution caused by this industry. An important issue for Ethiopia, the 5th largest coffee producer in the world with 450,000 tonnes produced per year, half of which is consumed by its inhabitants.
In the middle of the carpentry workshops of Addis Ababa, a small hangar houses the premises of the start-up Husk Energy and technology. Holeyat Berhanu co-founded this company with his friend Yohannes Wasihun. The machine they developed makes it possible to recycle the shells of coffee beans into combustible granules: “ Here, we put the coffee husks or sawdust, the biomass: the rotation applies pressure on the material and with the friction, this creates heat, a high temperature and a strong pressure which compresses the biomass. At the end, the pellets come out very strong and dense. »
This idea came to them while interviewing coffee farmers: “ They told us that the coffee husks accumulated in their village fermented when they came into contact with the rain. This creates a very bad smell that makes everyone in the surrounding area sick. Another solution is to burn them, but this creates carbon emissions. »
Mutual help from startuppers
To get started, several obstacles had to be overcome, but in the start-up world, entrepreneurs stick together. “ We communicate, we give each other ideas, that’s how we surviveexplain Yohannes Wasihun, co-founder of Husk Energy & Technology. We are also a member of the Clean Cooking association which brings together other companies in the sector. We share our problems and try to solve them together. »
Among the other promising startups, Almaw Molla, founder of Coffe Resurrect, whose project aims to recycle coffee grounds to make cosmetic oil but also nutritious flours: “ We are trying to involve NGOs to create coffee flour. Most food crops like teff or wheat are not found where coffee is grown, so we try to promote this crop in another way. »
At the moment, the company is in the research and development stage. Before launching a first pilot project in Ethiopia and then across the continent. The African Startup Awards competition represents a great showcase for these young entrepreneurs to try to attract investors.
Read alsoToo expensive, Ethiopian coffee struggles to sell
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