Charles Oyamo, a University of Nairobi (UoN) graduate, was on Thursday, June 8, named among the 10 winners of the 2023 Global Change Award (GCA) by the H&M Foundation.

The competition sought recyclable and biodegradable materials that can positively impact the textile industry. The UoN Bachelor’s degree in Development Communication graduate won the competition alongside other champions from the US, UK, Brazil, and Canada.

With the prize, Oyamo will take home Sh29.9 million (€200,000), a share of the Sh299 million (€2 million) draw, in the form of grants from the non-profit organization.

Oyamo, who is the founder and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rethread Africa, led his company in demonstrating how bio synthetics can be extracted from different raw materials.

He turned waste from sugar and corn production into bio-based synthetics. The materials naturally decomposed when discarded in line with the competition’s agenda

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The winners will further benefit from the organization’s coaching program to help them accelerate and scale higher

“There’s a wide range of solutions among this year’s winners. If scaled, I believe they could have a real impact on the industry – which needs a holistic transformation if we are to reach a planet-positive fashion future.”

“We look forward to working with the winners during the accelerator and help enable their innovations to accelerate and scale.” Stated Christiane Dolva, Strategy Lead H&M Foundation.

The Global Change Award is an innovation challenge seeking bright minds that can transform the fashion industry. Every year, H&M Foundation selects and supports the five most impactful innovations.

Rethread Africa focuses on turning agricultural waste into biodegradable textile fabric. In 2022, it was among the 13 projects that won the Make it Circular Challenge organized by What Design Can Do and the IKEA Foundation.