From classroom to cottage industry
When Olivia Jolie sat down to write her application to the 2023 #MyLittleBigThing Challenge, she didn't have a business plan. She had a problem statement, and a photograph of forestry waste piled outside a sawmill near Karen, Nairobi.
"There was just so much of it. Nobody wanted it. I kept thinking — what if we turned it into something?"
Two years later, Pine-Kazi employs 50 people across three Kenyan counties, turning pine waste from commercial forestry into briquettes, growing medium for urban farmers, and craft materials for tourist markets.
What changed during the 12-month mentorship
In the first six weeks, the team validated the idea with three sawmill operators and one tourism collective. By month four, the first hundred briquettes had been sold. By month nine, the first hire.
What's next
A pilot expansion into Tanzania starts this quarter, with a $40k microloan from a regional fund Olivia met at our 2024 Demo Day.
