Did you know that Chioma Ukonu made us proud in Los Angeles? This is what happened

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We know that African women are LIT!

Or why else would we be here if not to celebrate their litness (yep we formed that word). We heard about the amazing achievement of Chioma Ukonu but if you missed the details keep reading. 

It all started from a desire to help

Chioma Ukonu wanted to replicate the waste segregation system she had seen in the Western world. She didn’t like the way waste was improperly managed in her environment. So on returning to Nigeria, she and her family members started waste segregation and preached the message to their neighbours who caught the ‘fever’.

The catch, everyone who brought recyclable waste would win points and eventually could get household items. This ultimately led to the start of the business, Recycle Points. 

How does Recycle Points work? 

Recycle Points employs young ‘wastebusters’ to ride electric tricycles to collect these recyclable waste from door to door and employ unemployed women in the community to process these items and then sell off to recycling plants to use as raw materials for new products.

Individuals who provide recyclable waste are rewarded with points which they can accumulate and redeem for cash or other useful items offered through their ‘i-Recycle Store’.

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In a bid to expand, she participated in The Chivas Regal Annual Competition and emerged winner taking away one million Naira. This win qualified her for The Chivas Venture competition, which took place in Los Angeles. 

The Final Pitch event was attended by a range of high profile entrepreneurs and movie stars including Academy Award Winner, Javier Bardem and Hollywood Actor, Don Cheadle, both of who have starred in Chivas Regal’s Win The Right Way film, which helped launch The Venture by issuing a challenge to aspiring social entrepreneurs and the world at large to reframe their meaning of success.

After several pitches and rounds, Chioma emerged as one of the top five and was selected as the first runner up. 

 Now, are you not as proud as we are? 

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