Career
Victor Boyle-Komolafe of Garbage In, Value Out is Our #BellaNaijaMCM this Week!
For our #BellaNaijaMCM feature this week, we shine the spotlight on and celebrate Victor Boyle-Komolafe, the co-founder of Garbage In, Value Out (GIVO), a system that automates and digitises the collection, processing, and sale of recyclable materials.
Victor, a chartered accountant, helped develop GIVO after he was inspired at a workshop which discussed the waste problem in Nigeria. Fifteen billion units of PET plastic enter Nigeria annually, with less than 10% of them being recycled. The other 90% goes to landfill or into waterways.
GIVO leverages technology to collect recyclable material directly from individuals, families and businesses and to process these materials into consumer and industrial goods.
Furthermore, GIVO relies on a network of youth and women owned franchise businesses. This is done to create employment opportunities within the recycling industry ecosystem in Africa.
GIVO has a prototype in Nairobi, Kenya, and is still in its initial phase in Nigeria.
As the world began to battle shortage of PPE for essential workers due to the Covid19 pandemic, GIVO decided to act, and introduced the first product from its PPE line – the GIVO Face Shield which it released in the Nigerian market. In addition, GIVO partnered with NGOs to distribute these materials across Nigeria for free to the most vulnerable and at-risk groups for free.
Victor is also the co-founder/Director of Ojoro Kitchen, a processing company which has introduced modern preservation techniques to create better products for the markets thus providing farmers an alternative means of reaching their customers.
Since beginning mass production in 2017, Ojoro Kitchen has impacted over 1,000 farmers directly and indirectly (via cooperatives) in the North and Southwest of Nigeria by buying directly from them. The company has also been able to provide financing for these farmers and information on modern post-harvest techniques to improve efficiency. The organization has also sold over 3,000 units of condiments in about 40 large stores/retail outlets across Nigeria.
Victor is also the Director of Capture Solutions West Africa Ltd. An ‘Internet of Things’ company which provides unique and throughout B2B ICT applications to companies & organisations in need to re-organize and streamline their working processes.
Capture Solutions is based in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania and also has company representatives in the UK and Cote d’Ivoire.
Victor bagged his bachelors degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Liverpool. After his education he interned and worked in professional services in one of the big four accounting and auditing firms.
In 2019, Victor was one of the shortlisted candidates for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Prize for Engineering Innovation. In 2020, Victor’s GIVO was one of the three companies who received £5000 from of the 2020 Royal Academy of Engineering Project CARE (COVID Africa Rapid Entrepreneur) initiative in response to COVID 19.
Victor was one of the entrepreneurs selected for the inaugural Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program. He’s also one of the 2018 participants of the LEAP Africa Social Innovators Programme.
We celebrate Victor for being an inspiration in entrepreneurship and development in Africa and we’re rooting for him.
