Addis Sustainable Life
Greener solutions from student entrepreneurs!
What is Addis Sustainable Life?
Addis Sustainable Life (ASL) is a small start-up student led initiative and social venture founded by Nahom Zeleke and Abiy Shimelis; two young entrepreneurs from Addis Ababa University. Their initiative is a social/business venture striving to foster creative waste management, inspire green innovations and execute various campus sustainability plans for AAU while generating revenue from recycling the University’s waste paper.
History
In 2014, Nahom and Abiy won the Resolution Project Fellowship for “Socially Responsible Young Leaders” at Harvard University’s Model UN in Boston, Massachusetts. Bringing back a start-up seed funding of $3,000 from the fellowship, they first launched their project in April 2014 as a small student led initiative within Addis Ababa University. Given the genuine support from Dr. Admasu Tsegaye, President of the Addis Ababa University, ASL was officially inaugurated on April 4, 2014 at the Eshetu Chole Hall, College of Business and Economics.
Progress
Since its inauguration, ASL has been conducting innovation competitions for designing cost-effective waste management system for the Addis Ababa University. Abiy and Nahom have been engaging various volunteers to train them on basic concepts of sustainability. ASL has also organized hiking trips to natural forests around the outskirts of Addis, to equip students with concept of environmental protection and build up the synergy to make impact.
ASL Today
Today, ASL is functioning as a licensed business in partnership with a small-scale micro-financed production workshop, more than 5 marketing officers and Student Campaign volunteers striving to nurture sustainable practices within AAU 6 Kilo campus and its student community.
Parallel to its social responsibility on campus, ASL designs and supplies materials made from recycled paper combined with ‘Inset’, ‘Kacha’ and Cotton that give glamorous aesthetics especially for Hotel stationaries, Tour companies, Coffee Exporters, Campus Offices, Printing press and private companies. The paper products are 100% environment friendly and chemical-free in addition to being very attractive in their nature. The recycled paper products include: Memo pads, Agendas, Folders, Business cards, Bookmarks, Gift booklets, Gift bags, Post cards and many more.
Future plans
In the future, ASL plans to see Addis Ababa University become a model-campus for self-sustainability and resource efficiency by creating an eco-friendly learning institute. It also envisions becoming a flagship company providing Ethiopian handmade recycled products, available for Western and European markets.
Contact
For any further communication, you can reach both Nahom and Abiy through:
Nahom Zeleke, +251-911-36-4480, nahomiyoz@gmail.com
Abiy Shimelis, +251-913-96-1980, abiyshim@gmail.com
They would love to hear from you, get feedback and share ideas!