“My father wants me to work in government, but I think there are plenty of problems we can solve ourselves. So I’d rather be an entrepreneur. Two issues we have in this country are erratic power and excess trash. So recently I’ve been dreaming of a waste-to-energy plant. It could be a solution to both problems. I’ve been researching on the Internet for months. The technology exists. But this morning I had a meeting with the electric company, and they told me the power supply is currently stable. There isn’t a market for extra energy. So I’m feeling a little disappointed. But I’m going to explore other ideas. I’m also researching methods to manufacture furniture with leftover sugarcane fiber. I just want to do something about all this waste. It makes me so angry. Our gutters are filled. Our bins are overflowing. I’ve been carrying this trash for a mile because there’s nowhere to put it. And nobody feels responsibility for the problem. In the village where I grew up, everything was clean. Because everyone viewed the land as their own. I wish we’d view our entire country like that. Personally, I don’t want anyone calling Ghana dirty.”

(Accra, Ghana)