Sahara Foundation Partners LSETF, Wecyclers to Promote Environmental Sustainability in Lagos State
By Trek Africa Newspaper
L-R: Ejiro Gray, Director of Sustainability and Governance, Sahara Group and Teju Abisoye, Executive Secretary, LSETF at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding to promote environmental sustainability across 12 local government areas in Lagos state.
Sahara Foundation and Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) have announced their strategic partnership geared towards rolling out a series of recycling exchange hubs across 12 local government areas in Lagos state.
This project, which is being implemented by Wecyclers, a social enterprise with expertise in recycling, is aimed at promoting responsible environmental stewardship and encouraging the adoption of recycling as a socio-cultural practice to drive desired behavioral change in waste management in the state.
In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 11 and 17 which speaks to Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Partnerships for the Goals, this tripartite partnership will help promote a sustainable Lagos, create job opportunities, empower host communities, strengthen the economy, increase access to healthcare and improve lives and livelihoods across the state.
Speaking on the partnership, Ejiro Gray, Director, Sustainability and Governance, Sahara Group said; “At Sahara foundation, one of our key pillars is supporting and promoting sustainable societies. With this partnership, we are helping to create viable communities across the state by fostering a sustainable and circular economy through recycling”.
Gray further stated that the roll out of these recycling exchange hubs will help educate people about the benefits of recycling, significantly impact lives and livelihoods in the host communities, and provide members of the communities with the opportunity to capture value from their waste through incentive-based recycling. Gray commended the partners for their commitment to promoting sustainability and supporting a green Lagos.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary, LSETF, Teju Abisoye, in her remarks, said, “The partnership is strategic to scale waste to wealth creation in Lagos State. She added that the project is dear to LSETF as it is the first primary project of the Fund in the green energy space and a start to creating a million Jobs that is guaranteed to promote a sustainable Lagos for many”.
Abisoye stated that LSETF is fully committed to empowering Lagos residents and establishing these recycling exchange hubs will help provide economic opportunities for the host communities.
Also addressing guests at the event, the Chief Operating Officer, Wecyclers, Oluwayemisi Lawal, said ‘’This partnership with Sahara Foundation and The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund is a big leap in our effort in promoting sustainable environments in Nigeria”. Lawal added that she is very positive about the impact this would have in the state and thanked both Sahara Foundation and LSETF for trusting Wecyclers to implement the project.
Sahara Foundation, the corporate social responsibility vehicle for leading energy and infrastructure conglomerate, Sahara Group, is committed to improving lives and livelihoods across Africa. Sahara Foundation continues to support projects and invest in partnerships that will help build sustainable societies and promote widespread development across Sahara Group’s host communities.
About Sahara Foundation
The Sahara Group, through SAHARA FOUNDATION provides sustainable & socially responsible interventions that promote increased access to energy and sustainable environments.
Sahara Foundation is the vehicle for the Group’s Personal and Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR initiatives. Sahara Foundation’s vision is to promote activities targeting sustained (impact driven) societal wellbeing and touching lives through transformative partnerships, Sahara Foundation in 2019 realigned its focus areas to 2 key pillars for all interventions going forward – Increase Access to Energy and Sustainable environments.
This was borne out of the necessity for the Foundation to take ownership of a particular space and align with the Group’s vision.
About Sahara Group
Sahara Group is a leading international energy and infrastructure conglomerate with operations in over 42 countries across Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
Sahara is a dynamic leader in various energy sub-sectors via its Power (Generation and Distribution assets), downstream, midstream, and upstream businesses.
Consistent with its vision of becoming the responsible provider of choice wherever energy is consumed, the conglomerate’s power generation and distribution division-Sahara Power Group is the largest privately owned power business in Sub-Saharan Africa by capacity.
Sahara Power operates Egbin Power Plc-The largest privately owned thermal power plant in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as other generation and distribution assets, with ongoing expansion plans across the continent to achieve Sahara Group’s vision of lighting up Africa.
Sahara continues to explore new frontiers to replicate exceptional, effective, reliable, and more sustainable ways of delivering on its value proposition to a global network of customers and business partners.
The Group is a member of the World Economic Forum community – Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and collaborates with global, regional, and national organizations to promote the sustainable development and transparency in business.
About Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF).
The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund was established by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law 2016 to tackle unemployment and promote entrepreneurship in Lagos State by empowering its residents with job and wealth creation opportunities. OUR PROGRAMMES include; The MSME Loan Programme – An initiative aimed at providing access to affordable finance for small businesses which attracts a 9% interest rate per annum, The Lagos COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Program – A state-level intervention created to mitigate the harsh socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Lagos-based businesses through the provision of credit, operations and IT enhancement grants, Lagos State Employability Support Project – A capacity-development project which aims to strengthen the Lagos State workforce and curb unemployment by providing free vocational training programmes and job placement opportunities to young residents of the State, Lagos Innovates – designed to bolster the tech ecosystem in Lagos with the provision of workspace vouchers, hub loans, startup incubation, talent development opportunities, The Job Hub Project – A programme geared towards reducing the barriers to entry faced by early-stage businesses in Lagos State by providing access to infrastructure, equipment, and a solid synergic ecosystem to facilitate the growth of businesses across diverse sectors and the Lagos MSME Recovery Fund 2.0 – A grant scheme initiated to aid the recovery of MSMEs from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme is in its concluding phase. For more details, please visit www.lsetf.ng .
