GEO-6 for Youth: Africa
Mustafa Eid
Isabelle Boucher / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
push their governments to adopt more policies supporting cleaner mobility.
African youth can champion cleaner mobility by advocating for cycling lanes in African cities. This will result in significant healthcare savings from less air pollution, more physical activity and fewer road fatalities. Moreover, cycling would enhance the mobility of Africa’s urban poor since most of them walk to cut on transport costs. It is therefore evident that there are convincing environmental and socioeconomic reasons for cities to invest in safe and seamless cycling infrastructure (Kirkels 2011).
the country’s water supply. Such mix of used oil and water costs the country millions of Egyptian pounds to be treated with all other pollutants found in the traditional municipal wastewater. And while all Egyptian cities are covered with sanitation networks, rural areas are less fortunate, posing many challenges regarding the quality of agricultural water and its impact on their health. Tagaddod took a stand end this permanently by utilizing used cooking oil.
Egypt is also one of the leading vegetable oil importers globally. Egyptians use millions of litres annually to fry some of their most popular dishes, like falafel.
Tagaddod was founded in 2013 by Mariam Afifi, business development coordinator, Nour El-Assal, petrochemical engineer, and Ahmed Rafat, a mechanical engineer. It was originally intended as a senior class project at the German University in Cairo, to address the issue of waste management of vegetable oil.
They filter the oil and add chemical additives until they convert it into glycerine and biodiesel, an alternative to diesel. The start-up purchases the plentiful low- cost waste vegetable oil from trash collectors, who collect it along with other garbage from hotels and restaurants. The European market is their chief target; being the biggest global importer of biodiesel. The waste oil recycling process produces crude glycerine as a by-product that they sell to chemical companies and science labs. This enables them to provide free biodiesel services to businesses.
While the start-up indeed acknowledges that solar and wind energy are cleaner than biodiesel, Egypt’s vast, unused land and tons of waste oil make biodiesel a viable option for the country, especially when there is no other fuel that can easily replace the current system. Thus, from a business standpoint, the biodiesel business model looks to be the most feasible because of its attractive easy implementation methods.
Lots of young Egyptians are using bikes for commuting and regular exercise
2.3 Youth economic empowerment through renewable energy and energy efficiency
Youth Action 10: Auto Truck, Kenya
The global shift towards electric mobility, as opposed to fossil fuel- based mobility, can be an opportunity for young people. Kenneth Guantai, founder of the Auto Truck, is one such example of youth taking a lead in innovations towards clean mobility. He is currently working on prototypes for self-charging electric vehicles. It is incumbent on African Governments to support young innovators like Kenneth since their inventions have the potential of creating green jobs even as they raise green energy awareness amongst the youth.
Youth Action 11: Tagaddod, Egypt
The word “Tagaddod” means renewal in Arabic. It’s the name of a start-up based in Cairo that produces biodiesel from used cooking oil. Many Egyptian families pour used oil down the drains of their sinks, consequently polluting
20 Falafel fried in vegetable oil, one of the most popular dishes in Egypt
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