Manar Ramadan of Banlastic Egypt, an environmental conservation company based in the city of Alexandria, has won the ARLEM Award for young entrepreneurs, beating contenders from over 50 other new small businesses from around the Mediterranean.
Banlasting Egypt's mission it is to ban single use plastic and increase green awareness in the Egyptian community. They do this by offering alternatives to single use plastic, offering green services that foster awareness and responsible consumption. They also connect with policy makers to multiply the impact of what they do by passing laws and policies that enforce the ideal of a plastic free community. Its product manufacturing supply chain is outsourced to a small factory in one of the less privileged districts of Alexandria, which is 100% run by women. Ramadan's Banplastic Egypt also ran a boot camp for youth initiatives who have the potential to turn their impact-based idea into a business, and provided all the technical and business skills required, as well as organizing bi-annual needs assessment meetings for entrepreneurship in Alexandria, together with local actors.
The award was presented to Ms Ramadan on 8 November at ARLEM's annual plenary.