Bilikiss Adebiyi
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Bilikiss Adebiyi 2013 fellow
Bold Idea
Reduce the impact of poor waste management and local environmental degradation on low-income households in Nigeria by establishing accessible, incentive-based recycling systems.
Organization
Wecyclers is a unique solution to the waste problem that ravages African communities. Starting in Lagos, Nigeria, Wecyclers is reducing unmanaged urban waste in low- income neighborhoods and providing a reliable supply of materials to the local recycling industry. Wecyclers leverages low-cost, scalable, easily adaptable technology to collect recyclable waste at the household level with bicycle-powered collection vehicles called "wecycles." The wecycles are designed and manufactured locally and are operated by youth from local communities. Wecyclers rewards households with redeemable points based on the volume and quality of recyclables that they provide.
Biography
Bilikiss Adebiyi is the CEO and co-founder of Wecyclers, a for-profit social enterprise working to help communities reclaim their neighborhoods from unmanaged waste. Founded in 2012, Wecyclers utilizes low-cost cargo bicycles called "wecycles" to provide convenient recycling services to households in Lagos, Nigeria using an SMS-based incentives system. Bilikiss is a graduate of Fisk University, Vanderbilt University, and MIT's Sloan School of Management. While at MIT, Bilikiss was a Legatum Fellow at MIT's Legatum center for Development and Entrepreneurship and was a vice president of the MIT Sloan Africa Business Club.
