Olufunto Boroffice is a proud African woman and a passionate promoter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recycling, the circular economy, and economic empowerment for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. With this in mind, she founded Chanja Datti Ltd, a waste collection and recycling social enterprise that collects waste plastic and other recyclables and transforms them into pellets, flakes, or bales, which are then supplied to third parties for use in the manufacturing of various products. Simultaneously, her purpose-driven business spearheads campaigns around environmental sustainability and the SDGs across communities, educational settings, and religious institutions in Northern Nigeria.
Olufunto has chosen to focus her efforts on Northern Nigeria, a region where religious extremism, terrorism, and gender inequality are rife. She has strategically approached solving these issues by providing a platform that transforms waste into wealth, while also empowering unemployed women, at-risk youth, and the waste collectors of the region.
Over the last seven years, Chanja Datti has been directly responsible for diverting over 5,200,000 kg of recyclable waste from landfills in the Abuja metropolis, which in turn has created 250 green jobs. Additionally, the company has established a Cash4Trash initiative to provide additional sources of livelihood for over 500 women in 11 underserved communities in the Abuja and Lagos area, supported over 800 out of school children through BottlesforBooks program and has supported over 1,000 waste pickers and provided them with PPE during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chanja Datti’s focus on waste management, recycling, and the circular economy supports the SDGs and the African continent’s economic development. The organization continues to find innovative solutions to address waste management challenges and to prepare for the expected growth in waste generation on the continent. Furthermore, it continues to play a key role in creating new business models that are economically profitable and also create environmental and social inclusiveness while achieving the SDG goals.
Chanja Datti has received several local and international awards, including recently winning the 2021 Pistis Sustainability awards and the Oxfam iSME Green Superstar Competition for 2021, as well as gaining recognition as Top 100 2020 Global Recycling Heroes by the Global Recycling Foundation.
Olufunto is a founding member and Vice President of the Recycling Association of Nigeria (RAN), founder of Initiative for the Advancement of Waste Management in Africa (aka W.A.S.T.E Africa), a Fellow of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria and an alumni of the several prestigious local and international programs and sits on several boards. She has been recognized in 2021 by Global Citizen.org as one of 11 Change-making Africans that the world needs to know about, recognized by CNBC Rising Woman Africa series one of 31 African women leaders in 2021 and winner of the 2021 WE Empower UN SDG Challenge.
Olufunto was a part of the 2020 VV GROW Fellowship and participated in the Vital Voices 2020 Virtual Community Gatherings.
Learn more about Olufunto and her purpose-driven business:
Facebook: Chanja Datti Ltd
LinkedIn: Chanja Datti Ltd
Twitter: @ChanjaDattiLtd
Instagram: @ChanjaDatti
Website: http://www.chanjadatti.com/