Joseph Nguthiru

A black man with buzz cut hair is smiling with his teeth showing. He is wearing a dark colored shirt and a dark Blazer. The photo is black and white and features two colored circles in the background, one which is light blue the other dark blue.

Founder, HyaPak Ecotech Ltd.

Kenya

Joseph Nguthiru is the founder of HyaPak Ecotech Limited (Hyapak), a start-up transforming the water hyacinth plant, the world’s most problematic aquatic weed, into biodegradable alternatives for single-use plastic products. Since its inception, HyaPak has eliminated over 300 kg of water hyacinth from Lake Naivasha in Kenya. Alongside the HyaPak product, Joseph runs social-environmental projects under the Adopt a River initiative, which has eliminated over three tons of waste from polluted rivers across Kenya through involving communities in environmental education, river cleanups, and restorations. Joseph also invented a solar dryer that is now being used to revive pyrethrum plant farming in Kenya. As a civil and environmental engineer, Joseph is passionate about creating innovative and sustainable technologies to address climate change.

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