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Africa’s Business Horoes (ABH) Prize Competition: Ghana’s Prince Agbata listed among top 50 finalists
● Mr. Prince Agbata
The top 50 finalists for the 2022 Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize Competition was announced on Monday, August 1.
The flagship philanthropic programme, established by the Jack Ma Foundation, identifies, supports and inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their local communities.
This year’s competition received more than 21,000 applications and saw applicants from across all 54 African countries with Mr. Prince Kwame Agbata, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Coliba Waste Management Services Limited, as the only Ghanaian among the top 50 candidates.
The top 10 will be announced in October for the grand finale where they will pitch to global business legends and secure their share of the US$1.5 million prize.
While congratulating other African compatriots on the list, Mr. Agbata is excited to be part of the list as his company continues working to address plastic pollution in the country.
“Our drive to ensuring we put purpose over profit speaks volumes. It is no longer traditional recycling as usual; it is circular, innovative and creating equity across the value chain and I am proud to be at the epicenter,” he said in a LinkedIn post, after the announcement.
Ahead of the declaration of the overall winner, The Spectator delves into Prince’s background and what he and his company have been able to achieve over the years.
Background
Prince is a social entrepreneur, an industry consultant and expert in plastic waste recovery, processing and recycling with focus on the Africa continent and market.
He and his partner Mr. Kafui Honu Wisdom started Coliba in June 2016 after the loss of their best friend in the June 3 flood and fire disaster in Accra.
He is a software engineer by training and worked with some tech companies in Ghana prior to starting Coliba and continues to gain recognition for his work.
In 2015, he became an alumni of the President Obama Young African Leaders Initiative in Ghana and was later invited as scholar to the Mandela Institute of Development Studies on leadership in Tanzania.
In 2017, he won the Eco Hero Awards by Samsung Engineering in South Korea and was recently named Fellow of the International Youth Foundation Action Net programme in the United States of America (USA).
Prince says his mission “is to ensure that every single person in West Africa understands, and begins to refuse, reduce and most importantly recycle their plastic waste.”
He is passionate about topics of circular economy, recycling, climate change and sustainability and speaks strongly on these subjects on local and international platforms. He was part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid conference in Dubai in 2019 where he spoke on climate change and sustainability in waste management.
He received the top Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Innovator Award by the United Nations in May 2019 and addressed the UN ECOSOC committee on his work, highlighting the prospects and innovation in the waste and recycling sector. In addition to other recognitions, he was named in 2019 as one of the top 40 under 40 most influential young Ghanaian.
Company
Coliba, among other objectives, is “determined to ensure that every district in Accra owns a deposit and plastic buyback centre.” The company offers comprehensive industry-specific recycling services, quality control & sustainability solutions for businesses, corporations and households.
Aside their plastic waste collection and recycling solutions, the company is “helping to address the challenge of unemployment” by training young Africans — most of whom are women to tap opportunities in the plastic and recycling sector.
Prince says, the company since its inception, continues to contribute towards the achievement of the United Nations SDGs specifically goal “1, 3, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13.”
“To meet the targets of these goals, Coliba prides itself as a one stop destination for all plastic waste recycling related solutions such as assisting clients start and setup domestic plastic recycling programmes, recovery, collection and recycling to various forms of plastic wastes and conversion into new products,” he added.
Mobile App
The CEO again highlights the Coliba App, a waste management web and mobile application that connects households and businesses with affiliated plastic waste collectors.
“With just a click, one is educated on how to start a recycle programme, request pickups and get paid for it. The App is available on Google Play Store but compatible in Ivory Coast,” he noted.
Coliba, he says, continues to contribute to government’s efforts at increasing the recycling rate from two per cent to 92 per cent by 2030 through tech-driven plastic recycling solutions. In line with this, he and his partners are working to build the largest plastic recycling park in West Africa.
Prince, on weekends, plays the violin and joins IDEA Africa, an non-governmental organisation he founded in 2013, to build community libraries in rural communities of Ghana.
By Ernest Nutsugah
Madam Sandra Seyram Kpedor, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Anloga in the Volta Region, has emphasised the importance of parental involvement in children’s education, stating that education is free, but parents need to do more to support their children.
She said parents, teachers, and students must be involved in addressing the challenges facing the district’s education sector, particularly the poor Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results.
Madam Kpedor outlined some key roles parents should play to promote their children’s education, including providing a conducive learning environment, monitoring their children’s progress, and supporting teachers.
The DCE highlighted some challenges the district faced such as inadequate infrastructure and a shortage of teachers, which have also contributed to the poor BECE results and called on well-to-do parent to help solve the situation through and other supports.
To address the issues, she also announced that plans have been taken to utilise the district’s common fund to implement educational projects, such as constructing school blocks and teachers’ bungalows at Sodzi community, and 2-unit classroom blocks each at Akplorwutorkor and Tegbi-Afedome respectively, among others.
Madam Kpedor also noted that her office had earlier notified the Ministry of Education to deploy more teachers to the area to improve teaching and learning, and encouraged students to work hard and strive for excellence, and work beyond their limit to succeed.
“To my wonderful and beautiful girls, you have to know it clear that women and girls have equal opportunities to compete with men for greater achievements,” she indicated.
The DCE cited her own achievement as a testament to the fact that women can excel in leadership positions, alongside Vice President Nana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and stressed that girls were no longer limited to domestic roles but can pursue their dreams and become leaders.
Additionally, she mentioned that a meeting was held earlier with assembly members, and other stakeholders to address the district’s educational challenges and improve academic performance.
She promised that the district’s education oversight committee and stakeholders would work together to address the challenges and improve the district’s BECE results and called for parental involvement and support to boost the district’s education sector for children to chase their dreams to become future leaders for the success of the district and the nation.
She urged parents not to leave everything to the government but rather help in the provision of some necessary materials such as textbooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, food, and guidance to children for the successes of young learners. –GNA
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The spokesperson for Dr. Bawumia, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has criticised the implementation of the NDC government’s No Fee Stress policy, arguing that the programme has failed to deliver on its core promise.
According to him on Starr fm, the policy, which was introduced to ensure stress free payment of fees for level 100 tertiary students, has rather turned into what he described as post stress support.
He explained that students are required to pay their fees first before applying for reimbursement, a situation he believes defeats the purpose of the policy.
He questioned claims by government officials that the policy has been successful and that citizens are happy.
In his view, such claims do not reflect the lived realities of many Ghanaians. He stressed that while some people may appear satisfied, many others continue to struggle.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye pointed to the situation of trained teachers and nurses who have been picketing for nearly six months, demanding employment.
He noted that government responses suggesting it cannot accommodate all of them contradict claims of economic stability.
He further argued that economic indicators such as a stable currency mean little to people who are unable to secure jobs or access promised support.
He observed that telling an unemployed teacher or a struggling student that the cedi has strengthened does not address their immediate challenges.
On the issue of tertiary education, he maintained that no level 100 student benefited from stress free fees in 2025, despite the policy being announced.
He added that in 2026, students have already reported to school without receiving the promised support.
He insisted that asking students to pay fees first and seek reimbursement later amounts to support after hardship, not stress free education.
According to him, this approach goes against what was promised during the policy announcement.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye questioned why a government that presents the economy as strong is unable to fulfil what he described as simple and clear promises.
He added that there is a fundamental problem with the way the economy is being managed and indicated that he is prepared to explain his position further.
By: Jacob Aggrey
