At COP28 in Dubai, HyaPak was awarded the Prototypes for Humanity prize in the Nature,
Food and Water Systems category — a US $20,000 recognition selected from 2,800
submissions representing 710 universities across 200+ research fields.
It is the kind of award that quietly changes a company. Not because of the cheque
(though the cheque helps), but because of who is in the room. Prototypes for Humanity
gathers university research that has crossed the line from academic paper to working
prototype — exactly where HyaPak sits, between Egerton University’s Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering and the lakeshore at Naivasha.
What the jury recognised
Three things, mainly. First, that the underlying idea — using one environmental problem
to solve another — is rigorously circular: invasive weed becomes industrial input
becomes product becomes soil. Second, that the work was already producing measurable
impact: lake clearance, jobs, real seedling-bag deployments. Third, that the model is
replicable in any country fighting water hyacinth — and there are more than 70.
We are showing that innovation can come from where the problem is.
— The HyaPak team
Why Dubai mattered for Nakuru
The prize put us in the same conversations as the world’s biggest packaging buyers,
most of whom have extended producer responsibility targets that are quietly
making conventional plastic more expensive every quarter. Several of those conversations
are still ongoing.
It also helped at home. The award accelerated discussions with the Kenyan government
about adopting HyaPak seedling bags inside the Jaza Miti programme —
the country’s commitment to plant 15 billion trees by 2032. (More on that one in a
separate post.)
What it doesn’t change
The unglamorous parts. Harvest schedules, drying yards, mould tooling, certification
runs. The award doesn’t change the work — only the leverage we have when doing it.
And that is plenty.
