Dozie Igweilo, founder of Quadloop, told Reuters he came up with the idea after discovering a market for affordable, locally produced electrical goods, for which components were not available in the country.
"At that point, we noticed that... if we leverage on electronic waste, we are going to cut down the cost of production as well as the cost of sales, and that is what brought us to where we are today," Igweilo said.Solar laterns produced from electronic waste recycling are pictured at Quadloop recycling facility in Lagos, Nigeria October 4, 2022. REUTERS/Temilade AdelajaThe company aims to source 70% of its materials from electronic waste.
Those lanterns are then used by small businesses helping them to stay productive if there are power outages, Igweilo said. One of Quadloop's clients is Blessing Samuel, who works as a hairdresser and uses its solar lantern at night. "It's very good, it has been helpful to me since I got it, it helps me when there's no light. I use it to do my work and it relieved me of the stress of buying fuel," she told Reuters.Reporting by Angela Ukomadu; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Jane Merriman