Hope Mwanake “Think big, start small and start now!”

Hope Mwanake was one of the vision speakers of the World Water Week 2015 held in Stockholm. Get to know this inspiring young entrepreneur from Kenya, her experiences from working with her youth led community based organisation, Trace Kenya Group, and her impressions from the World Water Week in Stockholm 2015.

Hope Mwanake

 

Hope Mwanake is the co-founder of Trace Kenya Group, a vibrant community based organization that works with young people in addressing solid waste management issues in Gilgil, Nakuru County. She has over four years of experience as Project Leader for environment conservation at the grassroots level. She is an EIA/EA expert, member of Eastern Africa Water Association, and has been trained in project management by the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS. She won the Presidential Gold award for young people in 2010, MTV Staying Alive Foundation grant award in 2011, and RSSAF Green grant for environment in 2012. Hope holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science from UNESCO-IHE Netherlands and Bachelor of Science (Hons) from Egerton University where she also lectures on a part time basis. Upon completion of the Washington Fellowship, she plans to start a recycling venture making compost from organic waste, glass tiles from glass, and plastic poles from discarded polyethene bags and plastics. She also aims to mobilize many young people into social entrepreneurship as a means of livelihood throughout Kenya.

 Watch Hope’s talk as Young Professional vision speaker at the World Water Week in Stockholm 2015: Video SIWI

 

“Think big, start small and start now!”

This year I was really privileged to be the Young Professional vision speaker at the World Water Week in Stockholm. It was a chance to share my life story of how I rose from an unemployed Science graduate to becoming one of the co-founders of Trace Kenya, an organization whose greatest passion is to promote a clean environment and job creation for young people through the establishment of a viable business opportunity in the recycling of plastic and glass waste into ecologically friendly roofing products. This platform gave me an opportunity to speak about how passion and drive coupled by one’s education experience or expertise in a certain field can create numerous opportunities that young people out there can tap into in order to create something for themselves.

Through the Water Youth Network I was also one of the speakers during the Young Professionals day together with Antonella Vagliente from Argentina and Ahmed Shafa Shovon from Bangladesh. The session was titled “Keys for successful youth engagement in Water for Development” my biggest take away from this session was that young people really need to rise above the challenges they are facing and take up positions in their communities, their projects and in their countries in the water sector. They should speak up and let their voices be heard, it is time that young people are recognized for all their efforts and contributions in the water sector. It’s not an easy task but it’s very possible if we as young people show commitment, demonstrate our expertise in the various water fields and passion for the causes that we believe in. I would like to salute Antonella and Shafa who also shared their experiences. Antonella who at the age of 15 years was already involved in the water sector, the fact that her older colleagues usually saw her as a young volunteer rather than a professional did not put her down but rather fueled her to fight for what she believes in. Shafa clearly encouraged young people to rise above peer pressure; you do not need to be working in a prestigious job in order to make your contributions.

I believe that there are many young people out there who are working to try and make their communities a better place, to try and address challenges that the water sectors in their countries are facing. They should tell their stories to their fellow young people in their communities, countries, because with this we get to inspire each other and give each other the strength to never give up. I would like to extend my gratitude for the Water Youth Network for such an opportunity.

For more information about Trace Kenya Group please visit their website: www.tracekenyagroup.org