Nairobi — Soft spoken Kika is a 25 year old from Kampala, Uganda. I met him on a road trip from Nairobi to Durban with the We have Faith Caravan with over 130 youth from all over the world. This caravan is travelling to attend the 17th Conference of Parties in South Africa in 2011 to petition world leaders for climate justice, and hopefully to influence the leaders to make better decisions in interventions relating to the environment.
Kika practises what is can be described as 'creative entrepreneurship' and believes that many young people around Africa can be uplifted from poverty if the only applied themselves in the right way. I thought a successful business person such as Kika was out of place until I balanced out some equations while interviewing him.
During a concert run by the We Have Faith campaign in Lusaka in November 2011, Zambia, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Economics Luo Kande said that in Zambia, the government struggles to end poverty by creating jobs for young people. This is the case for many African countries. More and more, young people are venturing into entrepreneurship, although this is still a struggle since loans are not readily available to persons who do not have collateral-as is the case with youth.
Kika decided to start his own business after he was trained on entrepreneurship by UN HABITAT. He racked his brains for the most lucrative business idea, trying to set up different businesses but competition remained stiff. He has always felt passionate about the environment, and eventually, Kika made a decision.
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On returning to his home village in Wakiso District, Kika invested in garbage collection, recycling and disposal. "I did not have much money, but I had my idea and I knew it would work because there was a problem to be solved. I campaigned around the neighbourhood, asking people to pay me to take away their garbage," Kika says.
Many young people are fishing for businesses in which they can quickly make money. This is the biggest priority for them. The environment is not a major concern for African youth in my experience, neither is it a lucrative business venture. Kika overhauls this belief. He began with 3 paying clients in 2009 and has 60 today, 2 years later. The business can only grow and grow.
"Residents used to throw their trash everywhere, and block the drainage. This led to flooding whenever it rained and there were major sanitation problems," Kika says.
Kika is humbled that the local government in Wasiko District is appreciative of the changes his project has contributed to. He continues to campaign for the idea that entrepreneurship in environment is a new trend that awaits exploitation. His projects employs youth who are not considered in the formal sector. He hires reformed criminals, rehabilitated drug addicts and teenage mothers, all of whom lack a place to fit into society on a day to day basis. Protection of the environment is an idea that can be sold to anyone and Kika's initiative remains a case study for this. Environment and economic growth need not be enemies.
I met Kika in the 'We Have Faith' caravan where 160 youth travelled by road from Nairobi to Durban to campaign for climate justice in the run up to COP 17. I was sponsored to cover this trip and COP 17 by the Africa Adaptation Programme of UNDP.
