General News
Strategies for Businesses to be More Sustainable for Tomorrow
By Emmanuel Asika
The world’s natural reserves are fast diminishing at a worrisome speed, almost two times quicker than mother earth can recreate. This figure is projected to be 2.3 times what is sustainable by 2050. Yearly, 50 million tonnes of e-waste contribute to this, which is tantamount to the size of all commercial aircraft ever made.
Hence, achieving a sustainable environment is incumbent on implementing a circular business model like waste reduction, recycling, and regenerating products, and advocating sustainable production processes. Nonetheless, global economy is just 7.2% circular – implying that more ground needs to be covered.
With an essential role expected of multinationals, organizations of every size and sector can still adopt circular business models. Considerably, SMEs are driving platform sharing and collaborative consumption much as start-ups, from the onset, are incorporating circular models.
An excellent example of this seen in Nigeria, where business sustainability focus is circular as propagated by the Nigeria Circular Economy Working Group, a founding member of the Africa Circular Economy Alliance.
Incidentally, HP is deepening sustainability with years of experience. Its operations’ journey, particularly, will be entirely circular, driven by services and products modifications. Below are few approaches to reference:
Getting the Buy-in of the Considerate Consumer
Customers are getting more aware today than ever. So, businesses that make circularity a priority will accomplish long-term environmental and commercial profits; and ultimately fulfil customer expectations.
While circularity models need upfront funding, it helps to reduce outlays, optimize efficiency, and even discover new revenue sources. To further endear customer trust and loyalty, organizations must offer measurement tools that identify waste prevention and cost optimization mechanisms that help to establish enterprise superiority.
Circular enterprise models also produce profitable results. For instance, our Sustainable Impact Strategy has been boosted by HP’s socio-economic components on climate-focused programs.
HP’s alliance with NGOs to launch an ocean-bound plastics recycling program to help indigenous workers is yielding positives in Haiti. Now, these plastics are fused into HP products design aesthetics, encouraging circularity, and providing revenue and homegrown education opportunities.
Start and continue with the environment as a priority
As a rule, circular products are designed with environmental considerations from the start. Sustainable sourcing should be among the initial priorities, with concentration on ethical practices and ambitious but attainable goals.
This ties in to ‘Circular Lagos’, a sustainability initiative of the Lagos State government which seeks to design economic value from waste recycling.
As reference case, HP, since 2016 has mandated all its brand papers to be derived from ecologically reusable or certified sources. It was extended to paper-based packaging in 2020 for home and office printers and supplies, PCs and displays.
By 2030, HP’s goal is to become Forest Positive; thereby, eliminating deforestation for non-HP paper used in print services and product lines.
What creates distinction in packaging is innovation. 100% compostable chitin-based materials are a new development, whereas 3D-printed moulded fibre tooling can drive eco-packaging at scale.
Printing improvements, including printing directly onto product cargo boxes and using water-based inks most likely initiate supplementary benefits. HP’s goal is to eradicate 75% of single-use plastic packaging by 2025 compared to 2018―as of 2021, we were halfway there. Commendable Indeed!
Decrease waste, enhance lifecycle
One vital aspect for electronic devices is energy usage, though this can be puzzling for consumers. Companies and institutions can help customers make valid choices. Also with comparison tools, manufacturers can assist with clear and accurate details on labels, packaging, along with marketing and brand collaterals.
HP supplies are often highly valued for repairability, with institutions like iFixit providing reparability scores and self-repair (DIY) guides. Institutions can help in reducing request for fresh raw supplies by giving extended warranties and ensuring repair options.
Clearly, sustainable customer experience can be improved with ‘as-a-service models’; whilst promoting circularity through company-led takeback; hence, responsible companies aim to be value facilitators via repair and reuse of supplies when customers are done with them.
Significance of closed-loop recycling
Closed-loop reutilizing plays huge part in circularity, and HP is loaded with initiatives to support it. A good case study is HP’s Planet Partners program that helps to ensure that ink and toner cartridges do not end up in landfills.
Over a billion cartridges have been recycled through this program, a major landmark in 2023. Provisionally, HP’s Evocyle toner cartridges, made from closed-loop recycled plastic, are serving the sustainability goals of customers in France, Germany, and the UK.
In the reuse of a much wider range of resources, we are also getting better. For example, you might find bio-derived content like coffee grounds in monitors or cooking oil in laptop covers.
Partnership−a necessary paradigm for enterprise scaling
A circular business model is vital. It’s hinged on team play and partnerships with strategic stakeholders – government, suppliers, merchants/dealers etc. Strengthening networks with NGOs, research institutes, and think tanks, also positions serious institutions above contemporaries. Lagos has entrenched the model by introducing initiatives which encourage community members to drop off used plastic bottles and containers at designated recycling points for reuse.
To improve its fibre sourcing and certification programs, HP is collaborating with World Wildlife Fund and the Forest Stewardship Council.
Regardless of where they are on their circularity journey, collaboration certainly benefits all types of companies. Participating in industry bodies, working with manufacturing partners, and ideas exchange with regulators and professional associations can help advance policy influencing, build consensus, and progress legislation.
Institutions with established existing programs perhaps extend their impact by involving their business environment. Another reference now driving change at scale is HP’s Amplify Impact partner program, which has engaged over 3,500 partners worldwide.
Envision the future
A vision of a more regenerative and sustainable future is presented with the concept of a circular economy. It could boost the global economy by $4.5 trillion by 2030, if executed appropriately, with accountable sourcing and packaging, materials and products that remain in use longer, and closed loop recycling.
Evolution to circularity is now a necessity with no option. To actualize it, we must immediately shift mindsets, embrace circular practices, and cultivate alliance and frameworks essential for success. Bountiful rewards sure await the businesses that leads the way.
Nigeria, the leading importer of electrical and electronic equipment on the African continent which processes over half a million tons of discarded electronics each year, in January 2022, amended its national environmental regulations to tackle the country’s growing e-waste problem.
So, whether you are just starting or already on the path ― the time is here and now to take the next big step. The future is indeed circular, and it’s up to businesses globally to make it come to fruition.
Emmanuel Asika is Country Head, HP Nigeria
Space in Africa, the Lagos-based firm Oniosun founded, is expecting its Egusi melon seeds to splash down in the Pacific Ocean Saturday—fresh from a trip to the International Space Station.
Once Earthside, experiments will begin on what is being hailed as the first food native to West Africa to be sent to space.
As Oniosun told AFP on Friday, it could herald an era where space exploration reflects the planet’s diversity.
“When we talk about humans colonizing other planets, this is not just an American mission or a European mission—this is a global mission,” he told AFP.
And future African space explorers might enjoy a taste of home.
Experiments on extraterrestrial food, which is to say tested in space, have been going on for years.
Growing food in space is seen as a crucial part of long-distance space flight and long-term missions, where frequent resupply won’t be feasible.
Scientists at the University of Florida in the United States, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan, will examine the seeds “to see the effects of exposure to space” and zero gravity, including on the seeds’ DNA.
Once planted, researchers will monitor their post-space performance and germination.
The seeds went up to the ISS on a SpaceX flight last week, as part of NASA’s partnership with private firms.
Oniosun said the inclusion of Egusi seeds marked an important step forward, both for those on Earth as well as future astronauts.
High in protein, they are typically used to prepare soups and stews across West and Central Africa.
Africa’s most populous country has a small space industry, but the launch of the seeds seemed to generate more excitement on social media and in newspapers than previous launches of Nigerian satellites, he said.
“The moment that we’re sending food that they love, a food that holds significant cultural contexts to Nigeria… everybody starts getting interested in the subject,” Oniosun told AFP.
“The launch of Egusi melon seeds into space is more than a symbolic gesture,” he added.
“The future of humanity among the stars must reflect the diversity and richness of life on Earth.”
Whether pounded yam—the key dish served alongside Egusi soup—will make its way to the final frontier remains to be seen.
In a powerful demonstration of its commitment to the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has launched the second cohort of the IgniteHer Bootcamp for Women Entrepreneurs, a strategic initiative aimed at accelerating gender inclusion and economic empowerment through digital innovation.
The bootcamp, themed “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs for Growth and Innovation”, was launched in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and brought together selected women entrepreneurs from across Nigeria, both physically and virtually, for rigorous training in digital skills, innovation management, business development, and investor readiness.
The NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, who declared the bootcamp open, reaffirmed the Agency’s role in aligning Nigeria’s digital development with the national priorities of reforming the economy for sustained inclusive growth and accelerating economic diversification through industrialisation and digitisation.
“Through IgniteHer, we are actualising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by expanding women’s access to technology and economic opportunity,” he stated.
The DG, who was represented by the agency’s Acting Director of the Digital Literacy and Capacity Building department, Dr. Ahmed Tambuwal, noted that inclusive innovation is a cornerstone of NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0: 2024–2027), which supports national aspirations for inclusive growth, poverty eradication, and youth empowerment.
“We are not merely imparting skills; we are creating self-reliant entrepreneurs, change-makers, and leaders,” he added.
Inuwa disclosed that the IgniteHer Bootcamp is also a key component of the National Gender Digital Inclusion Strategy (NGDIS), through which NITDA is working to empower 12.7 million Nigerian women with digital literacy skills by 2027. He averred that the programme complements broader government efforts to bridge gender gaps, enhance productivity, and reduce unemployment, especially among young women.
Citing a report by the World Wide Web Foundation, the DG emphasised that closing the digital gender gap in Nigeria could unlock an estimated $13 billion in GDP growth over the next decade.
“This training is a step towards harnessing this economic potential and ensuring that women play an integral role in shaping the digital landscape of Nigeria,” he noted.
He therefore called on participants selected from over 12,000 applicants to seize the moment and shape the future of Nigerian entrepreneurship.
While highlighting NITDA’s leadership in strategic partnerships, the DG commended JICA and the Government of Japan for their ongoing collaboration in supporting digital empowerment through programmes like IgniteHer and the iHatch Incubation Programme, which provides startup support, mentorship, and innovation development to early-stage entrepreneurs.
“At NITDA, we believe that inclusive innovation is not just an ideal but a critical strategy that ensures the growth of a stronger economy, the development of smarter solutions, and the existence of more resilient communities. Through IgniteHer, we are dismantling barriers and replacing them with pathways to opportunity,” he concluded.
In his remarks, the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, reaffirmed Japan’s long-standing commitment to innovation and gender inclusion in Nigeria. He announced that Japan, through JICA, is currently supporting two grant projects worth $30.9 million, focused on improving Nigeria’s startup ecosystem, strengthening the investment climate, and building an inclusive innovation hub.
The Ambassador also referenced the upcoming Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9), themed “Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa”, as further testament to Japan’s dedication to deepening Africa-Japan cooperation on digital transformation and entrepreneurship.
Lead Facilitator of IgniteHer, Hajiya Hafsat Salabi-Dange, described the programme as a catalyst for social and economic transformation. While praising NITDA’s visionary approach to development, she stated that the programme is a movement that is bridging the digital gender divide and fostering economic independence.
Encouraging the participants to remain curious, intentional, and bold, she said, “What you will gain here goes beyond business; it is a tool for community upliftment, national growth, and generational impact.”
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited have entered into a strategic alliance aimed at advancing operational effectiveness, sovereignty, and sustainability through space-based innovations.
This was during a courtesy visit by Jane Egerton-Idehen, managing director and chief executive officer of NIGCOMSAT, to Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, chief of the Air Staff (CAS), at the NAF Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, August 7, 2025.
According to Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, director of Public Relations and Information, Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force, discussions during the meeting focused on leveraging NIGCOMSAT’s satellite capabilities to enhance the NAF’s mission-critical functions, particularly in the areas of secure communication, real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
Both parties acknowledged that the future of national defence lies in digital dominance and home-grown technological solutions.
Abubakar stressed the urgent need for indigenous systems to support the evolving demands of modern air operations.
“We must continually seek innovative ways to improve our capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign systems.
Strategic collaboration with institutions like NIGCOMSAT is essential to ensure secure communication and real-time situational awareness across our theatres of operation,” the CAS said.
In her remarks, Egerton-Idehen praised the Air Force’s proactive approach and expressed NIGCOMSAT’s readiness to support the military with tailored satellite solutions that align with national security objectives.
“This partnership is not only timely but critical in strengthening Nigeria’s digital defence infrastructure.
NIGCOMSAT stands ready to deploy its expertise in support of the Nigerian Air Force and contribute meaningfully to national security,” she said.
Both organisations reaffirmed their shared commitment to advancing Nigeria’s security architecture through the use of indigenous space technologies.
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