Bernard Odongo has been researching on waste upon realising that businesses needed to audit their waste discharge in order to develop plans to reduce its impact for a safer environment.
And needing a vehicle to actualise his idea, he founded Belovast Limited in 2020, a company dealing exclusively with waste resource audits.
The company conducts comprehensive audits for industries and businesses to identify what materials are unwanted and subsequently released in order to tailor a waste reduction strategy.
The aim was to create effective, efficient, safe, economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable systems while reducing carbon footprints and embracing the principles of a circular economy.
With a Bachelor of Science degree in, an MBA, and a strong background in environment, sustainability, and circular economy, Odongo’s set out on a mission to make the planet a better place, through the application of science.
“We aspired to make the difference in manufacturing and waste management since waste has become a thorny issue in Kenya for the longest period and would remain so if things are not done differently and innovatively,” he says.
Initially, Odongo had founded Nuflarc Africa Foods Limited, after receiving training from Kenya Industrial Research Development Institute (KIRDI) in Nairobi and the company was based in Kisumu.
“This acted as a catalyst towards projects that have seen Belovast attract recognition and awards, among them The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program in Nigeria in 2015,” he says.
Belovast conducts a waste/resource audit for industries, agricultural sector and commercial business to help them determine the amount and different streams they produce during their operations.
This is based on the three common forms. The data collected is used to make informed decisions when developing sustainable solutions that are specifically designed for each client’s need.
“We have three levels of audit that include the Basic, Detailed and the Process audit that involves thorough study and laboratory investigation,” he adds.
Belovast has been developing sustainable waste and resource management solutions for industries and business across the country and some clients in Uganda and Rwanda.
“We realised lack of qualified trained personnel on waste/resource data hampers the informed decision making process, when developing sustainable waste management solutions. This is the gap Belovast exists to fulfill since one cannot manage what they do not know, and what is measured has a higher chance of being managed,” he adds.
Odongo works with six employees and three consultants that advise the company, while he engages others on a casual basis depending on availability of opportunities, or when need arises.
“Belovast is versioned to revolutionise the waste industry sector in Africa through provision of leveraging data analytics for informed decisions developing sustainable solutions for efficient resource optimisation, waste reduction and sustainability,” he adds.
The process begins with discussing with the client on what they aim to achieve from the engagement, number of days to be taken. This is also in line with the guidelines provided by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
The company is currently serving different 25 sets of clients ranging from small and medium enterprises to large companies in the industrial, agricultural and commercial sectors.
He adds that establishing such a company requires focus and vision to enable you to clearly understand a customer’s pain and mode of operation to enable you define the problem, collect the data for extensive analysis. These help in developing the most viable and sustainable solutions for the client.
“We doing the physical waste/resource audit but we also do co-ordinated research to develop a technological infrastructure platform that will ensure our services to clients are easier, faster, affordable, reliable, scalable, and innovative,” he says.
Odongo notes that the company is different from the rest in the market who still use traditional methods in developing solutions, as Belovast leverages in data analytics for informed decisions developing sustainable solutions.
“Our solutions are tailor-made to clients’ needs. To this end, we have WasteLab for the researchers to ensure our solutions are well structured, thought through, innovative, latest, reliable and more importantly, developing solutions that leveraging data analytics through incorporation of Artificial intelligence (AI) that will make our services easier, faster, affordable, reliable, scalable, innovative and sustainable,” he says.
The charges depend on a number of factors for different clients’ base like size, and complexity of industries systems and length of services to be offered. Other factors include the dangers posed to the personnel conducting the audit, due to elements like exposure to hazardous waste.
“We are in the process of developing a software solution that will automate the charges and make the services to our clients easier, faster, cheaper, reliable, innovative, scalable and sustainable,” he adds.
His vision is to have more companies embrace the conduct of waste audits so as to create a safer and cleaner environment.
