 Welcome back. It's that time again that we get to talk about something to do with the SDEDs. But before we get there, Barry Maasai, thanks very much for that forex trading, you know, and the conversation in there. It has been such an informative segment. And this morning, of course, I'm joined by a young lady, so let me call her young mother. She told me she's a mother. And she's a veteran in these things. And we get to talk about so much this morning and talk about the sustainable development goals. Do you know anything of that sort? Oh, I'm going to get too much knowledge and like, what is this? Anyway, join me in welcoming Nelly Gazaras. Thank you. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Wow, it's nice to have you. Thank you. It was really nice for you guys to invite me to give me this forum to speak about what I love most. What you love most? Sustainability, pro-sustainability from home level to institution level. And I mean from products level to policies to create a framework within which the youth can start businesses around SDGs and green economy really. All right. And that's it. As she just mentioned, we get to talk about the opportunities that are there through the green economy this morning. And of course, she has narrowed down from the 17 SDGs. She has taken at least one to talk and get to sensitize young people about it and the opportunity therein. So we get into the conversation right away. So let's talk about Gazaras. You are the founder of green things. Yes. What is these green things all about? Okay, so I'm going to take you slowly, slightly back. My background is journalism. I've been a journalist for quite some time. And at some point when I gave that to my first child, my son, I produced a TV show called Green Thing. That was in the year? That was around 2013. All right. Yes. When I was producing the TV show, I started looking for financing to do it. And that's when I realized that as a doctor, you cannot treat yourself. I could get money for other people's production, but not mine. So it was not possible to run it. I went back into full employment. Then I went back to ZDF, German TV, where I was a producer there. Making stories, African stories for a German audience. And after some time, I moved out of there. For how long before you even progress? For how long were you there? About a year. I was there for about a year. And after that, I came out of it and started to try and make the TV show again. Which again did not work. So I started a YouTube channel. I had to find an avenue to talk about how the environment is in a mess. But if we look at that and the disaster of climate change, if we look at that, it could actually be an opportunity. But then I started a YouTube channel called Nelioteki, where I talk about any of the 17 goals. It could be about plastic recycling, to policies around... Good health. Yes, health, or again, plastic recycling, e-waste management. And it's a very small community of people who want to make a change in the world. And because of that, I realized that not so many people want to talk about SDGs. Because it sounds like such a big word for only people who have PhDs in whatever and whatever. And I thought the only way to explain how sustainability really is such a simple thing as fresh water, fresh clean water, access to clean toilets, access to decent jobs among the youth in Kenya is to have things that we use every day to explain what SDGs are. And that's when I launched Green Thing Kenya. So Green Thing Kenya has really sustainable essentials for homes and institutions, from toothbrush to a reusable straw to travel case for your toothbrush, a dish brush made of sisal and bamboo for doing dishes instead of foam, which is one of the most polluting plastic that we have around. So yes, that's how I started Green Thing. You have achieved so much. You have achieved so much with the way you have begun. You know, talking about your career, then you here are talking about how you quit your career to venture into all these. My question is, what made you quit your job just for this? I think the first thing that people ask me when I tell them I'm doing SDGs, they say, oh yeah, there's money in there. I'm thinking, no, there is no money in there. The largest population in Kenya is youth. It's not money? Are you sure it's not money? Not entirely, no. There is money in sustainability. As I say, because it's good to be clear about money, you know, money is still there. It is there, it is there, and I'm going to get to that. For anything to be sustainable, if you're talking about SDGs, anything, any project or any business that you start there, so think about, does that project influence, make people's lives better, like a society at all? Does that project make money? Does that project help the environment in one way or another? That for me is how, that's the formula to start a business around sustainability. So for you it's all about the impact of the society? It's the impact of the society, but also make money out of it. So it's not just a matter of the impact. It has to earn you something. Yes, absolutely. And when I say about money, it's because you think it's, there's a lot of financing globally in SDGs. There's a lot of climate financing. And these are things you read on paper, you see on news, but I honestly haven't been financed at all to start a YouTube, to start a TV show on green economy. At that time they say there's no really revenue for that. So we are not going to pick up the show. But if you decide I want to make a change out of passion, and I'm going to clean the environment while making money and making people's lives better, I think that's a good start. Right. You know, we went too much, went ahead, so someone probably could be thinking, what are these SDGs? There are 17 of them, we may not even be able to mention all of them. And as you talk about the SDGs, tell us, which one specifically have you ventured into specifically? Okay, so I've ventured into the 12th SDG. It's called Sustainable Production and Consumption Patterns. Because we live in a society of take, make, throw. And that is such a linear economy, so to say. Everything is designated to go into the dump site. Let's talk about the people who are taking yoghurt in the kanthaya. Throw it out of the car. You know, people who do that? Yeah. And they think it's okay. Literally. You buy water, you drink then you throw it out. I think sometimes they don't know better. I've just sometimes I've seen it and I've questioned people who do that and they're honestly shocked that you're asking. I mean, what did you expect me to do? But when we talk about take, make, waste, waste it. For example, straw. We go to all sorts of events. Our kids love using straw when they're taking their juices or yoghurt. And they take a straw, they use it within 15, within maybe even five minutes. And it's gone. A product taken from oil. Right. Yeah. A plastic is made from oil. It lasts five minutes. And it stays on our environment for years and years, is releasing microplastics to the water. So you can also say that I used clean water to water my vegetables. No. Wow. It has microplastics. Which is now. That is now the cycle of the problem. Now the only way to solve that kind of problem is to think of a circular way with an alternative. Like people have wheat, you remember wheat? You know wheat. Yes, yes. The people using wheat straws internationally. The people using pasta straws out of that. I have stainless steel straws. The people doing bamboo straws. That is, it's mental lust. And when a bamboo straw is done, you can put it in the soil and it will add nutrients to the soil. And I've seen you do that. I think for me that's a circle. And I've seen you do that. Yeah. And it's quite amazing of what you're doing. And the purpose and the passion of all these things. And even you quitting job as Al-Alan we had mentioned. Why do you think, where do you think the opportunities are for young people to venture into? There are 17 goals right now. And there are 17 sustainable development goals. Think of a plastic right now that needs to be abolished. Let's talk about diapers. Kids use diapers every day. And they're really handy and they're really easy. But they will stay in the environment forever. It's a mess. And nobody wants a landfill next to the area they live in. Now the solution is to have reusable diapers. That's one of the business opportunities somebody can venture into right now. Reusable diapers. Yes. How possible? Like when we were kids, we used to have napkins and then one out. Yes. Those were back in the days. Now there's a fancier way of doing that with less resources used. Which now we talk about being digital. Yes. And diapers is part of it. Yes. That's one way you can look at it. Journalism, for example, which is what I'm trained at. We need to have journalists specifically trained to do climate resilience journalists. Journalists doing stories on the potential business opportunities that exist in sustainability. Of which now we last year kind of hosted the one of the biggest conferences, the blue economy conference. Yes. Which apparently, I don't know, are we as young people really aggressive in terms of these opportunities that are there? Yeah. Are we really aggressive even to notice them? Yeah. Again, as I said, sustainability and SDGs has been given these big words, which I find unnecessary, and almost unfortunate, that sustainability and SDGs look like a classist or elitist. Just for the professors? If you Google climate change adaptation, the first thing you get is a document of somebody who has, I don't know, how many masters, how many PhDs. And you go, why? I have a diploma. What is now? Yeah. Yeah. What I want to do is, I mean, we, Wangari Mathai is from this country. Why can't we start with that? Why can't we start, you know what? I'm going to follow what Wangari Mathai did. I'm going to create an app to show which is the best tree species to plant where and make it a global app. That is one of the business opportunities in terms of sustainability that anybody, any geek, anybody in tech can do. Right. Yeah. And like, almost more than 25 clips on your YouTube channel. Yeah. And all these relate to your topic, the green things. Why not any other, like the blue economy? It's only the green. Yeah. As you said before, are the youth, are we ready for the future? And I know we talk about the future, but the future is now. When we had millennium development goals, how many years ago? More than 10 years ago, that was 2015. Yes. We were talking about goals for the future. Now the future is here. We are still here. How are we going to feed ourselves? How are we going to have clean food? How are we going to have decent schools? How are we going to have roads? Because infrastructure is one of the backbones of having, of achieving sustainability really. And for me to talk about, and let's, let's, when we talk about green, it's not just the environment. It's, as I said, it's from this green education, this green clothing. Like now there's somebody doing conscious fashion. Her name is Deepa Dosajah. She's not using plastic. One of the biggest sources of microplastics is our clothing. She's not doing that. You know, how many animals in the world have been killed for their, for their skin? Quite a number? Yes, quite a number. And that's one of the reasons why fashion is one of the most polluting answers to anyone. And that people creating businesses out of that. Fashion and designers? Yes, yes. What have you got to tell them? You know how many leeches of water I used to make denim that you're wearing. All right. Now people are using very few resources, upcycling, making, hand-drawing these patterns that you see on clothes so that we have less damage on our environment. And we, we have so many chemicals used in manufacturing really in Kenya. And some of these chemicals release carcinogens, can size on the rise. If we don't introduce SDGs as a thing, as a tool to have a cleaner and safer world that is just, then I think we have a bit of a problem. All right. And when you mention about that, I'm going to ask about, back in the days you used to have, let me just call them permanent, permanent staff, but at least they could be long-lasting. Unlike today, they are short-leaving products that we're having in the market. Why? Is this attributed to all these? We don't have, first we don't have sustainable production and consumption patterns. All right. Like us. We have, this year we have doll shoes in fashion, as I was saying. Next year we have wages in fashion. This month we have waterfalls in fashion. Sustainability of the market. No, it's fast fashion. All right. Come, come. Marketing, yeah, marketing is telling us to consume, consume, consume, consume. While the people that are making all this fast product are probably kids who are under age, you are supposed to be in school, using the most polluting things. Cotton, for example, that is grown conventionally, has lots of chemicals. Long, long time ago we used to have, we used to have cotton that is grown organically. Not so much chemicals that were not, that were used on the, on the plants. And some of which, some of these chemicals are actually banned in Europe and being still, still being sold in, in Kenya and in most African states. So, yes, when we look at that, we have, because of marketing and fast fashion, we have very unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Because we are told, no, you need an, you need an iPhone X. So I'm going to get an iPhone X. No, you need an iPhone 11. So I'm going to get an iPhone 11. There's just consume, consume, consume. There's just too much of consumption more than what we're giving. Yes, and things are built in a way that you're going to need the next for sure. All right. There's a clip that let us to have a look. I don't know whether the clip is ready so as we can just have a look at what you have been doing. I don't know whether my producer is ready with our clip so as we can just take a look. Some of the things you have been doing, they are quite exemplary. Thank you. Looking at even the bamboo, you know, the bamboo brush. Yeah. And how you've reused that. Yeah. Thank you. All right, I'm told that it's not a trade. Let's, let's continue. You, your YouTube channel. Yes. As we begun by saying, it has quite a number of them. Can you kindly give us, can you kindly give us what's the title of the YouTube channel? So my YouTube channel is called Neliyoteki and about that I would like to say something. When you care, there's, there's a lot of influences in Kenya and in from YouTube, lots and lots of them. And most of them have more than 10,000 followers. Oh. I have a YouTube channel of, I think 300 people who know what I'm about, who know I'm going to be and it's a very small community where we ask ourselves, why can I get an eco-friendly toothbrush? Why can, why can I get a reusable diaper in Africa? Something like that. And because of that, I've really made it, you know, as a young person, you have to be, you have to be very intentional about what you are, especially as a content creator. My name is Neliy, I'm doing things to do with green period, nothing else. So if there is somebody out there looking to make a video on sustainability in Africa, they can consult you about that, even with your 300 subscribers. Once we're back from watching the clip, there's something I'd like you to mention about African sustainability and about the product and the stability of its market, even in terms of the climate change and the like. But before then, there's a clip, as you mentioned, about some of the things that you've been making. This is what attracted me to her page. Take a look. Organize the flower in an aesthetic organic shape like this in space with cautious thought It's a piece of art and to celebrate women, nature and everything. This is different. Is it different? Yeah. This is an artist, as I said, I look for people. Unique because of that. So here, for example, I'm using this typical African mask called Songi mask. Songi, yeah, it's come from Congo. And I add this raffia because, yeah, during centuries we use them to make some dance with masks. I'm using organic materials because it stimulates my creativity and my imagination, actually. More than the other material. And organic shapes are unpredictable and flowing. And porcupine kills with a symbol of protection. I call that the fourth wife. Fourth wife. Yeah. So this piece I call is unexpected. It's a splash. Right. I'm loving the way things are turning. Out to be. But because of timing, we're not even able to expand on every picture and every image over there. Let's talk about this green thing, the one that you're talking about. She's using these kind of stuff that you don't even want to think of, but she's getting good of it. Yeah. Okay. So if I can just pick, should I pick on the toothbrush? You can just use it. Okay. So if I pick on the toothbrush, we use a toothbrush every day. I don't know the current statistics because as I said, there's not much data produced in Kenya about our production and consumption here. I don't know how many toothbrushes a household uses per year. But it's many. I'm going to speak for myself. I use a toothbrush every three months. Now if I use a plastic toothbrush, every, that's about four. And I have a family of four. How many toothbrushes are those going to the landfill to stay there forever? Polluting the environment. I had to come up with a solution. Now the solution that I created is a bamboo toothbrush. So I have bamboo toothbrushes that go between 250 shillings to 350 shillings and you can have a pack if you want. There's one specifically I created for families where you can get five toothbrushes, 4,000 shillings. Now if you use it, when you're done using a bamboo toothbrush, you just again put it in the soil and you're good to go. It's just a nutrient. It's plant-based. Yes. That's one of the opportunities I saw in terms of green economy. Let's talk about... You should say her name is... Her name is Malyza. Yes, Malyza. Yes, Malyza. As I said, I do products to talk about sustainability. I do videos as a YouTuber. But I also do products. So toothbrushes and videos. So like... Okay, now it's gone again. So that's the toothbrush. That's the name of my company. Great things. Now I made a video on how to remove the bristles before you dispose it off. Right. To remove... After you remove it, then from there you go and put it... Yeah, yeah. Because this is steel nylon. That's the best... That's the most hygienic product for making bristles in the market right now. It's dried with coconut fiber. But that just comes off. It's like having, you know, the Mswaki, the stick that we used to cut. Yeah, so it's a pretty mess to use that. So once you're done with that, you put the bristles in a plastic bottle or plastic container of the same material. And then you can use it for making eco-breaks. I don't know if you know eco-breaks. That's actually another business opportunity that somebody can venture into. Because we have companies producing plastic, packaging their products in plastic, but they don't give us an option on how we are going to handle that plastic. They don't give us easily accessible deposit points where we can go drop the plastic so they can take their mess back. So one way to handle plastic is actually put lots of other plastic in it, or soil, or stones, and use it as a building material instead of bricks from soil. Nelly, unfortunately, you're out of time. So I'd like you to just give us your parting shot. Please tell us where we can find you on Facebook or Instagram, any other social media pages that you are in, and of course your parting shots. It's beautiful that you want to find me, but what I want to tell you is climate change and SDGs is such a big and very wide sector of the economy. You can start any business really. And for Green Thing, I'm always up for any chart really. You can buy a product, or you can come talk about any business idea that you have, and I can guide you through it. If you'd like to buy any of my products, I'm available on Instagram, Facebook as Green Thing Kenya, and I'm also on Facebook as Nelly, Gesare, or Takee. Alright, many thanks Nelly for coming along. It has been such a nice time even to tell us about the green economy, which is really booming in the country and taking preeminence in the market. It's supposed to. I just wish we had more people under 35 doing something about it because we've been talking. We can have all sorts of policies. We can have all sorts of conferences. But if you're not thinking of getting the best bristles for toothbrushes coming from Kenya, yeah, we're going to talk so much. Alright, many thanks Nelly. That's it from us and the green economy, whole thing, and we appreciate, of course, for you to keep us company. My name is Karanja Alex, of course, it's always a pleasure. Many thanks for keeping it white, 254. See you in just a few.