Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola

Bilikiss Adebiyi or Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola is a Nigerian CEO of the Lagos-based recycling company, Wecyclers. She believes: "one man's waste is another man's treasure." She and her company have gathered many awards and prizes including the King Baudouin International Development Prize in 2018/19.

Bilikiss Adebiyi
in 2019
Born
Lagos, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Other namesBilikiss Adebiyi Abiola
Education
Known forCEO of Wecyclers

Early life

Adebiyi was born in Lagos, where she went to the Supreme Education Foundation secondary school. She entered the University of Lagos, but she left after a year to complete her studies in America.[1] She graduated from Fisk University and then went to Vanderbilt University, where she earned a master's degree. She worked for IBM for five years before deciding to study further. She was accepted to study for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[2]

Wecyclers

She came up with the idea for a recycling business[3] during her second year at MIT, where she was studying waste as her specialist subject. Her initial idea was to increase the quantity of waste she could collect from households by offering them raffle tickets in exchange. When she discussed this in Nigeria on a vacation she was surprised at the enthusiasm that was offered for her ideas.[1] Waste is a particular nuisance in Lagos as only a small percentage is collected regularly.[3] Adebiyi took the idea back to MIT where she was able to gather support by entering her idea in competitions. After graduation in 2012, Adebiyi moved back to Nigeria to be with her husband.[1]

A Wecycler's tricycle – A "Wecycle"
Wecycle rubbish and recyclers in 2019

In 2012, she co-founded Wecyclers, a company that collects recyclable rubbish from households in Lagos. When the business started, Adebiyi would take out a tricycle to do collections to find out more about her new business.[4] Once the rubbish is sorted, her company sends a SMS messages back to the household, informing them of how many points they have earned for trading in the rubbish.[5] These points could be converted for food, cleaning products, or cellphone minutes.[6] The company works in partnership with the Lagos Waste Management Authority. Lagos produces 9,000 tonnes of waste per day and the authority were trying to almost double the proportion that was recycled from the 18% figure in 2011.[5] Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy but the disorganization in Lagos means that rubbish cannot always be collected. Wecyclers use modified tricycles which enables rubbish to be collected where normal vehicles could not go.[3] Wecyclers collects from thousands of households. The company estimated in October 2015 that it has collected over 500 tons of rubbish, it has created value from that rubbish and it has employed 80 people.[3]

Adebiyi whose married name is Abiola has arranged for the Coca-Cola and GlaxoSmithKline to subsidize their operation. Wecyclers had found that a significant proportion of the rubbish came from these companies and they were willing to assist with the recycling effort.[7] Guinness in Nigeria agreed to collaborate in 2018.[8]

In 2018 Abebiyi stood down as CEO of Wecyclers to be become the Managing Director of the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK).[8] In her new role she will be keeping open spaces in Lagos State attractive and carrying out tree planting.[9]

Recognition

Adebiyi's efforts have been reported in Nigeria, the UK, US and Germany in 2014 and 2016. Coverage included CNN, Huffington Post, "Die Zeit", The Independent, Marie Claire Magazine, The Economist, NDaniTV and D+C[10] . She has been awarded grants from MIT and she has won a number of awards,[2] including the Cartier Women's Initiative Award for sub-Saharan Africa in 2013.[11] Wecyclers were awarded the King Baudouin International Development Prize in 2018/19.[12]

Partners

Wecycler's partners are said to include FCMB, DHL, Unilever, Oracle, the Nigerian Bottling Company, MIT Sloan School of Management.[13]

References
  1. Adebiyi-Abiola: New Face Of Waste Management In Nigeria, NGRGuardian, Retrieved 28 February 2016
  2. Garbage in, Money Out: My Stroll With Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, 2014, Huffington Post, Retrieved 28 February 2016
  3. 'It's money lying in the streets': Meet the woman transforming recycling in Lagos, Athlyn Cathcart-Keays, 21 October 2015, The Guardian, Retrieved 28 February 2016
  4. Young CEO – Bilikiss Adebiyi, NDaniTV, Retrieved 29 February 2016
  5. Recycling Banks to Reduce Scavenging at Dumps in Lagos, Nigeria, January 2011, waste-management-world.com, Retrieved 28 February 2016
  6. Rawsthorn, Alice (2018). Design as an Attitude. Zurich, Switzerland: JRP | Ringier. ISBN 978-3037645215.
  7. Bilikiss Adebiyi, 2013, cartierwomensinitiative.com, Retrieved 29 February 2016
  8. Benson, Emmanuel Abara (2018-04-24). "Meet Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, Nigeria's queen of recycling and environmental sustainability". Nairametrics. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
  9. "Principal Officers". Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
  10. Eva-Maria Verfürth (24 May 2016). "Incentives for behaviour change". D+C, development and cooperation. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  11. "The 2013 Edition". Cartier Women's Initiative Awards. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  12. "NIGERIA: Wecyclers wins King Baudouin Award for Development in Africa". Afrik 21. 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  13. Adebiyi, Bikis. "Bilikiss Adebiyi- Abiola: I chose waste for impact". Retrieved 5 May 2020.
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