Lorna Rutto, founder of EcoPost, sustainable living and green technology entrepreneur, Kenya — Lionesses of Africa (original) (raw)

Lorna's Startup Story

As a young child, growing up in the Kaptembwa Slums in Kenya, Lorna Rutto experienced more than her fair share of poverty, unemployment, garbage and rotting waste in the streets, and clogged, overflowing sewers encroaching people's homes. As a young schoolgirl, her eco-consciousness came to the fore, when she noticed the huge amounts of plastic waste littering the environment. She decided to start making a small difference to addressing the situation, recycling this plastic litter and making creative pieces of jewellery and small ornaments by melting the plastic, reshaping and decorating it into new objects. She sold her creative work at school to other pupils and friends for small amounts of money, but it was a small step to becoming more environmentally aware.

After school, she went to college, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting, and went into a career in banking, a solid career choice given the tough employment market in Kenya at the time. However, she felt unfulfilled and longed to work with people and in the field of science, instead of working on financial systems and structures....

Lorna and her eco-business are truly inspirational and demonstrate how it is possible to create a viable and sustainable business in Africa, whilst at the same time positively impacting on local communities and the environment. --- Melanie Hawken, LoA founder & editor-in-chief