Sanergy, a waste management company based in Kenya, has received a $2.5 million funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Former MIT students David Auerbach, Lindsay Stradley, and Ani Vallabhaneni launched Sanergy in 2010 with the goal of franchising sanitation units throughout Nairobi’s urban slums, providing a cost-effective and efficient alternative to sewers.
Using the Black Soldier Flies, the company gathers human excrement from sanitary toilets in slum neighborhoods, as well as other organic waste from across the city, and converts it into insect feed, organic fertilizer, and biofuel at its plant (BSF).
In 2015, the firm opened its first organics recycling plant in Nairobi, which can handle 12,000 tons of rubbish per year. According to the company, it has also been operating the largest insect feed factory in East Africa since earlier this year.
Sanergy also uses two mobile apps, as well as mobile money, data collection, and street mapping technology, to connect with its network and improve its service.
“We are ecstatic to expand Sanergy’s groundbreaking circular economy model, which addresses a wide range of social issues that most African countries face, including waste management, sanitation, agricultural productivity, and food security,” said Shohei Hara, director-general of JICA’s Private Sector Partnership and Finance Department.
Sanergy has developed the largest insect feed facility in East Africa, which will begin production in 2021, with support from the US International Development Finance Corporation (USDFC).
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