By Rositta Liosi – EMTV Online
Water Hyacinth is known to be an invasive aquatic weed that clogs waterways and depletes the nutritional resources within its surroundings.
Along the Niger Delta, there is an abundance of water hyacinth that adds a touch of colour to the inland waterways. But these aquatic weeds have been wreaking havoc in local communities and ruining the water supply.
Nigerian entrepreneur, Achenyo Idachaba, is the founder of MitiMeth, a start-up business that uses the nuisance weed, water hyacinth, to create beautiful-handicraft.
Idachaba, a computer scientist and business analyst moved from the US to Ibadan, Nigeria to set up an environmental consulting business. It wasn’t until 2011 that her current company, MitiMeth was formed.
The birth of MitiMeth came after she undertook research that revealed communities in Southeast Asia, facing the same predicament were harvesting the weed and transforming them into woven wonders.
Mitimeth produces home and personal accessories made from the invasive weeds that ravish the Nigerian waterways.
Mitimeth not only helps solve an environmental problem but this social enterprise is also empowering people at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
Achenyo engages seven different local communities that harvest water hyacinth and weave it into usable products, it is her hope that Mitimeth will eventually engage up to eighty communities in this process.
Furthermore, the MitiMeth founder also provides product development training in various communities in order to help the local people.
Mitimeth sells most of its products locally and internationally using by way of social media accounts and its website.
For more information about Achenyo Idachaba and the work she is doing through her company MitiMeth, watch her, Ted Talk, ‘How I turned a deadly plant into a thriving business.’
