Msafiri-2017-11

PEOPLE / 39
Lorna
Rutto
Born
1986
Hometown
Nakuru
Company
EcoPost
Biggest Inspiration
Wangari Maathai
Business Mantra
Have passion for whatever it is you do
Photo: Hollandse Hoogte
“I was working on systems and structures and not with
people and science, which had been my passion at school”
RUTTO HAS ALWAYS HAD a thing for the environment.
Growing up, she noticed the huge amounts of plastic waste
littering the streets and addressed the situation by melting
disgarded plastic and reshaping it into jewellery, which she
sold to her friends at school.
After graduating, she landed a job with a commercial
bank.“It was a decent job that paid the bills, but something
felt wrong. I was working on systems and structures and not
with people and science, which had been my passion at school.
I longed to do something I was passionate about,” she says.
In 2010, Rutto founded EcoPost, a successful Kenyan
social organisation that aims to transform Kenya’s waste
into wealth. She founded the company in response to
Kenya’s plastic waste problem.
EcoPost manufactures aesthetic, durable fencing posts
from plastic waste (such as polypropylene and polyethylene),
which is a more environmentally friendly alternative to timber.
Rutto has earned international acclaim for her efforts in
providing an alternative waste-management solution to
Kenya’s plastic menace. In 2011, Rutto received a Cartier
Women’s Initiative Award, a prestigious international business
competition that aims to encourage female entrepreneurs to
solve contemporary global challenges. “It was a validation of
the work we’ve been doing for years in creating a sustainable
environment for Kenya,” says Rutto.
Today, EcoPost is a profitable company with more than
15 employees. Rutto is relentlessly working to build it into one
of the leading recycling companies in Africa.