Rethread Africa

Other than the glamorous side of fashion that meets the eye, the convectional fashion industry has its' negative effects, ranging from micro-plastic pollution, textile waste, emission of toxic gases and use of fossil fuels in the day to day manufacture of clothes. Through value addition to agricultural waste that would have otherwise been incinerated or land-filled as the sugarcane bagasse in frame, we are creating a bio-degradable and bio-compatible form of polyester that is environmental friendly. We're doing this with the help of nature's tiniest helpers - Bacteria 🦠 We are celebrating this year's #worldenvironmentday in the lab, actively working towards bringing the future of sustainable materials to life!

🌱 Exciting Milestone for Rethread Africa! 🌱 We are thrilled to announce that Rethread Africa has moved into our new home at the University of Nairobi's Center for Bioengineering and Bioinformatics under the Department of Biochemistry. This incredible space will be our base for the coming months, allowing us to experiment with innovative ways to create the next generation of biomaterials. Over 94% of smallholder farmers in parts of Kisumu, Homa Bay, and Migori counties are predominantly sugarcane farmers. The journey from planting to harvesting sugarcane spans over 18 months, and at harvest, a significant portion - bagasse - remains underutilized. While some sugar mills use bagasse to fuel their boilers, a substantial amount still goes to waste. For instance, at Sony Sugar in Awendo, about 16.9% of bagasse ends up as waste after processing. In conversations with farmers supplying these mills, we recognized the potential of bagasse as a valuable resource for increasing their income. Currently, only a small portion of bagasse is used for making briquettes, but the sheer production volume suggests much more we can do. Our mission is to empower smallholder farmers by transforming their post-harvest waste into valuable resources. By leveraging agricultural waste like bagasse, pineapple leaves, and corn husks, we aim to produce advanced biomaterials. This approach creates better products and ensures that the process contributes positively to a healthy planet. That's why we harness the power of microbes - nature's engineers - to turn this waste, which often gets burned or left to emit methane, into Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). Check out this short video from our recent visit to Sony Sugar, where we collected soil samples to culture PHA-producing bacteria. We are building a waste-free future for smallholder agriculture and the global materials industry. 🚀 #Sustainability #Bioengineering #RethreadAfrica #Biomaterials #AgriculturalInnovation #WasteFreeFuture #SmallholderFarmers #PHA #CircularEconomy H&M Foundation Hult Prize Foundation IKEA Foundation Social Shifters Noreen Mwancha Hawolul Ali Hussein Vincent Momanyi Mitesh Varsani Charles Oyamo UN Environment Programme

🌟 Exciting News! 🌟 We are thrilled to introduce the second cohort of startups in the Startups Bluebook Incubator Program! This year’s group consists of trailblazers in various industries, each bringing unique ideas and innovative solutions to the table. Let's give a warm welcome to these cutting-edge companies: 1. BEYI Group Ltd 2. ⁠Igafri Ltd 3. ⁠Rethread Africa 4. ⁠Loopa 5. ⁠Smart Ikigega 6. ⁠INNOVHYPER Technologies Ltd 7. ⁠EXTRA TECHNOLOGIES 8. ⁠IREBE BIOTECH Ltd 9. ⁠MediXR 10. Right Lampshine Ltd These startups are poised to make a significant impact in their respective fields. Over the next few months, they will receive mentorship, resources, and support from our network to help them thrive. We invite you to follow their journey and stay tuned for exciting updates! Join us in congratulating these talented entrepreneurs and wishing them the best of luck as they embark on this transformative experience. #StartupsBluebook #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #Startups #IncubatorProgram

In April, we had the opportunity to reunite with family, create new relationships, and forge strategic partnerships as we met with cohort members, partners, and investors for the final in-person Impact Accelerator Week for the 2023 GCA. As we close an enriching year-long journey with the Global Change Award Impact Accelerator by H&M Foundation, KTH Innovation, Accenture & The Mills Fabrica, we are excited for the next phase of this amazing program as alumni. From our first meeting in Sweden, where we were honored with the award in June 2023, to our technical deep dive in Hong Kong, and finally, our investor-focused culmination & graduation in New York this April, each step has been a leap towards shaping our journey and the future we are building at Rethread Africa. Looking back, here is our GCA Wrapped. 🤝 Collaboration and Innovation In Hong Kong, we were immersed in cutting-edge research and development at HKRITA - The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited, exploring possibilities that stretch far beyond our current capabilities. The insights gained here were not just about technology but also about the power of collaborative innovation and deploying technologies in the marketplace as early as possible. 🌆 Family Reunion in New York Our final week in New York wasn't just a graduation party and pizza pitching nights. It was a launchpad for the next phase. Meeting potential investors and engaging with industry leaders, we shared our vision for a waste-free future and explored partnerships that we believe will be pivotal for our next phase. We also got a charge from the incredible Miles Kubheka to be brave and confident. “You have to be comfortable that things don’t go according to plan – that’s how you push innovation” 🙌 So What's Next Thanks to the H&M Foundation, and all the inspiring fellow innovators, for a journey filled with learning, growth, and shared aspirations. We are excited to take our next steps, knowing we have a global community supporting us. “Working together means we learn altogether. It’s about sharing the risk of innovation.” Sarah Coulter, U.S. Program Director, Accelerating Circularity. It was super fan doing this with Algreen Ltd. ALT TEX, DyeRecycle, Nanoloom, PHYCOLABS, Refiberd, KBCols Sciences Pvt. Ltd. (Official Account), SXD, and Tereform. Super grateful to the incredible team that made this happen including; Christiane Dolva Törnberg | Beatrice Oldenburg | Indira Furniss Söderström | Dominic Roter | Josefine Olsson | Sara R. Cederlöf (f. Rahiminejad) | My Ewrelius Ryde | Edwin Kehl | Anna Dadfar | Chaucer Ma | Cintia Nunes | Philippe Li | Hult Prize Foundation

In April, we had the opportunity to reunite with family, create new relationships, and forge strategic partnerships as we met with cohort members, partners, and investors for the final in-person Impact Accelerator Week for the 2023 GCA. As we close an enriching year-long journey with the Global Change Award Impact Accelerator by H&M Foundation, KTH Innovation, Accenture & The Mills Fabrica, we are excited for the next phase of this amazing program as alumni. From our first meeting in Sweden, where we were honored with the award in June 2023, to our technical deep dive in Hong Kong, and finally, our investor-focused culmination & graduation in New York this April, each step has been a leap towards shaping our journey and the future we are building at Rethread Africa. Looking back, here is our GCA Wrapped. 🤝 Collaboration and Innovation In Hong Kong, we were immersed in cutting-edge research and development at HKRITA - The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited, exploring possibilities that stretch far beyond our current capabilities. The insights gained here were not just about technology but also about the power of collaborative innovation and deploying technologies in the marketplace as early as possible. 🌆 Family Reunion in New York Our final week in New York wasn't just a graduation party and pizza pitching nights. It was a launchpad for the next phase. Meeting potential investors and engaging with industry leaders, we shared our vision for a waste-free future and explored partnerships that we believe will be pivotal for our next phase. We also got a charge from the incredible Miles Kubheka to be brave and confident. “You have to be comfortable that things don’t go according to plan – that’s how you push innovation” 🙌 So What's Next Thanks to the H&M Foundation, and all the inspiring fellow innovators, for a journey filled with learning, growth, and shared aspirations. We are excited to take our next steps, knowing we have a global community supporting us. “Working together means we learn altogether. It’s about sharing the risk of innovation.” Sarah Coulter, U.S. Program Director, Accelerating Circularity. It was super fan doing this with Algreen Ltd. ALT TEX, DyeRecycle, Nanoloom, PHYCOLABS, Refiberd, KBCols Sciences Pvt. Ltd. (Official Account), SXD, and Tereform. Super grateful to the incredible team that made this happen including; Christiane Dolva Törnberg | Beatrice Oldenburg | Indira Furniss Söderström | Dominic Roter | Josefine Olsson | Sara R. Cederlöf (f. Rahiminejad) | My Ewrelius Ryde | Edwin Kehl | Anna Dadfar | Chaucer Ma | Cintia Nunes | Philippe Li | Hult Prize Foundation

The significance of industry-wide collaboration, relationship building, and the role of psychology to drive sustainable change took center stage at the GCA accelerator week in NYC. Here are our takeaways: ✔ Be brave, be confident “You have to be comfortable that things don’t go according to plan - that’s how you push innovation”. This quote by entrepreneur, celebrity chef, philanthropist and member of the GCA expert panel Miles Kubheka was a timely reminder that real change and true innovation comes with significant uncertainty.   ✔ Build the right partnerships Partnerships can take many forms. Whether it’s with a new employee, new investor, an industry mentor, or a potential vendor, deciding who to partner with can be a business-critical decision. This was illuminated by CEO, investor and advisor Caroline Brown who in her session ‘Accessing Early-Stage Capital’ with investor and circular fashion expert Julia Viner, spoke about the importance of “curating the right people to invest”. ✔ Involve as many people as possible in the conversation U.S Program Director at Accelerating Circularity, Sarah Coulter encouraged the winners to think about the system as they’re growing their businesses and the ever increasing need to establish common goals and parameters between themselves and their partners. ✔ Harness the power of positivity Being an entrepreneur means wearing many different hats, and usually involves talking to and positioning a narrative with a wide range of people and organisations. To do so in a positive way that shows confidence, creates interest, and fosters trust, is not something that comes easily to many of us. Prof Carolyn Mair PhD emphasized the importance of understanding human behavior to effectively instigate change. Doom and gloom narratives often fail because they overwhelm individuals, making them feel powerless rather than empowered.   ✔ Make time for the unexpected Many times, it was the coffee breaks, non-scheduled lunches and time in between workshops and sessions, that contributed to the magic that helped foster unexpected connections and synergies. As reminded by Christiane Dolva Törnberg, one of the Strategy Leads at the H&M Foundation, “the key word here is together”.    Learn more about our accelerator week in NYC: https://lnkd.in/dN3g4E8g Algreen Ltd. | ALT TEX | DyeRecycle | Nanoloom | PHYCOLABS | Refiberd | #KBColsScience | Rethread Africa | SXD | #Tereform | Accenture | KTH Royal Institute of Technology | Beatrice Oldenburg | Indira Furniss Söderström | Christiane Dolva Törnberg | Dominic Roter | Josefine Olsson | Sara R. Cederlöf (f. Rahiminejad) | My Ewrelius Ryde | Anna Dadfar

A typical week? Well, we rarely have those here at Rethread Africa but if we did, we would be in smallholder sugarcane farms in Western Kenya or sightseeing in Rwanda on where to set up our pilot or in the lab in Nairobi working on the next generation of biomaterials then crown it all with a few meetings in New York. We have been doing all that, though not all in a week because we are still a small team with limited resources but this week, we will be in New York for Global Change Award Accelerator Week and we are excited to speak to you about the work that we are doing to both increase smallholder farmer incomes but also to develop the next generation of biomaterials from agricultural waste. If you happen to be in or around the Big Apple or in Austin early next week, we'd love to grab a coffee, share about the work that we are doing, and learn more from you on how to build a more sustainable future where both people and the planet not only survive but thrive. So reach out to us and we'd love to chat. 🌿 👕♻️🌍

🌍✨ Exciting New Alert! ✨🌍 We're thrilled to announce our nomination for The Earthshot Prize 2024, recognizing our commitment to building a waste-free world. Leveraging agricultural waste, such as sugarcane bagasse, we're turning waste from the world's largest crop by production volume into sustainable biomaterials. 🌿👕♻️🌍 Between setting up our own plants, licensing, and white-labeling this technology, we envision a future where we are empowering over 33 million smallholder farmers across Africa, transforming a byproduct into the next generation of biomaterials with applications in fashion, footwear, and upholstery and even packaging. This journey reflects our vision for a circular future - where materials borrowed from nature are reused and returned, nurturing the planet and its people. Through our efforts, we not only aim to revolutionize the fashion industry but also offer a lifeline to smallholder farmers facing the brunt of climate change. Today, we have done that for 35 smallholder farmers in a small village on the shores of Lake Victoria called Olare in Homa Bay County in Kenya and processed over 1.6 tonnes of material, made three iterations of our product, gotten two trademarks and created 12 new green jobs across the value chain from farm to fabric. We are excited about what the future holds and this nomination adds us to a community of optimists who are willing to take wild bets for the future of our planet. When we started, we were just a university project by students at the University of Nairobi and we've gone ahead to receive immense support from incredible partners such as the H&M Foundation, Social Shifters, What Design Can Do, IKEA Foundation, Norrsken East Africa, Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) and Certa Foundation just to name a few. #RethreadAfrica #EarthshotPrize2024 #SustainableFashion #CircularEconomy #InnovationForChange #EarthshotCapeTown

Congratulations to Team Rethread Africa for their victory at the Global Entrepreneurship Conference held on 13th and 14th of March in South Africa. This journey began five months ago when we partnered with Junior Achievement Kenya and the Global Entrepreneurship Network to establish a platform where exceptional startups could vie for the opportunity to pitch at the 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Congress. At NCBA, as part of our sustainability commitments, we are dedicated to providing targeted mentorship and skills building for women and youth. Our partnership with Junior Achievement is a testament to this commitment. The overall winner of GEC, Rethread Africa, is a startup dedicated to sustainability, creating material from agricultural waste and advocating for a future-positive fashion industry. We firmly believe in the potency of strategic partnerships to drive positive change in our community, and pledge to continue our efforts in supporting businesses and fostering a sustainable world. #NCBAChangeTheStory #NCBATwendeMbele

The #Bioeconomy is Booming! Meet 10 new synthetic biology #startups: Join the discussion at #SynBioBeta2024: https://lnkd.in/dis4u9mA Terix provides non-invasive and cost effective diagnostic services directly to mothers. They investigate the utility of various biomarkers in making synthetic biology solutions for #diagnostics. https://www.terix.io/ Livestock Labs uses advanced genetic engineering, data analytics, and #machinelearning technology to create off-the-shelf cell lines capable of expediting the #cultivatedmeat industry. http://livestock-labs.com/ Viabio SIA offers cutting-edge technology to improve the viability of bioprinted tissues and organs, which will improve 3D bioprinting capabilities using AI. https://viabio.site/ Nalca Biotech is accelerating product development of industrial #biotech via continuous fermentation technology. https://lnkd.in/dCWRazYs Vexxel integrates #geneediting and protein engineering to create biocapsules safe for humans and the environment. https://vexxel.bio/ Hyperion FoodTech is developing novel ingredients through #regenerativemedicine and #genetherapy technologies. https://www.hyperionft.jp/ Rethread Africa is developing the technology to turn #biomass into #sustainable materials of the future. https://rethread.africa/ PlastiFarm is utilizing natural resources to create new #materials that benefit society and the #environment. https://lnkd.in/dHWs3VNh Korecyte Bio is developing next-generation CAR-T cellular #immunotherapies which can safely target a range of solid cancers. https://korecyte.com/ EVast Bio Inc. is on a mission to explore the vast potential of small Extracellular Vesicles (sEVs) as #nanotherapeutics and targeted delivery systems. https://evast.bio/