For 38-year-old Atanasio Njue, her mother’s actions to cut down trees at their farm for firewood and charcoal were the particular most annoying thing in his life.
This forced him to figure out how he could provide his mother and siblings with an alternative in their Gaturi South home.
After clearing high school, Njue joined the Jua Kali sector in Nairobi in order to try his luck and make ends meet.
He would visit their village house regularly over the weekend and after gaining experience on the job he never knew this individual would quit the then-lucrative job some years later to become an environment Ambassador championing the particular conservation of tree cover.
“Whenever I visited my home area I noticed our compound was fast getting exposed as most of the indigenous trees had been felled for charcoal and other uses, ” Mr Njue recalls
Upon asking his defensive mother might give the same answer that she felled them for domestic use and his small brothers and sisters must eat.
A thought came to their mind upon making Bridget charcoal from waste but the costs could not allow it. “I love google plus therefore came across a machine from china but it was beyond my means”
Njue recalls that he tried his skills to make a similar machine using scrap metal and motorbike parts and after several attempts, this bore fruits and would make charcoal of different shapes.
The move was highly appreciated right from his house and later on the whole Kairungu town would join in the particular consumption that will helped him become commercial.
He went on and on with second and third machines that were now more efficient and he employed several young ones from close to his community.
From using charcoal remains plus ashes, Mister Njue advanced to use raw materials that had no connection with trees and that’s how he ended up using rice husks plus macadamia shells that are flammable.
The process starts by working out the raw materials and further crushing them to a fine powder that is mixed with water and cassava powder to enhance glue’s purpose.
The solution is further transferred to a mixture machine for compaction, which afterwards spills the particular solution in different shapes plus manually cuts into good sizes.
They are then dried in a good open space for two or three days before packaging in various sizes that are also free from dust.
“Women are sensitive and since our charcoal is dustless we furthermore ensure that the packages are usually dusted off with a blower to a standard that our product can be carried together with other products through a supermarket, ” Mr Njue added.
Due to the demand, he has increased manpower and right now employs about 300 youths across the production chain within Embu, Meru, Kirinyaga, and Tharaka-nithi with a focus to employ more than 1000 youth adults in the future.
His advice in order to the youths loitering while drunk is to look with regard to self-employment and stop waiting for white-collar jobs.
The particular supervisor at the charcoal-making backyard Abednego Mutua said they have been able to provide regarding his family with this work that seems dirty.
“I appeal to young ones without a job to look intended for us plus will offer jobs as we are searching to get recycleables and manpower in order to meet the particular growing demand.
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