People living around Lake Victoria have complained about the invasive hyacinth weed that has driven most fishermen out of business.
The weed is so thick that it creates a dense cover that makes it difficult for fishing boats to navigate the lake. Efforts to uproot it have also been unsuccessful over the years, making fishing virtually impossible.
Despite all these challenges, the weed has resulted into interesting investments to some creative entrepreneurs.
A Nigerian entrepreneur Ms Achenyo Obaro says the weed can be permanently eradicated if countries adopt her eco-friendly innovation that manually harvests and processes the weed into various products.
Ms Obaro, the founder of Mitimeth, says clearing hyacinth-infested waterways in Lagos inspired her team to start processing the weed into handwoven products.
“We’re extracting value from an environmental problem — uprooting the invasive weeds and transforming the menace into profit,” Ms Obaro told the mediain an interview at her exhibition booth in Gigiri.
A video where Ms Obaro previously explained how she dealt with the weed is here.
Below are samples of her products.
However, in Kisumu also , Michael Otieno has found an innovative way of turning this weed into paper products.
More creative Kisumu people have also made gorgeous artifacts from water hyacinth as shown below.
These efforts have been recognized by Kisumu County Governor Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o.
Do you believe that this weed can actually beautify your house?