Unstoppable: Nzambi Matee
Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there\u2019s a lot they don\u2019t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they\u2019d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of an engineer who turned plastic into gold, all starting from her mother\u2019s backyard.
Every day, around 500 tonnes of plastic waste is generated in the Kenyan city of Nairobi. Hardly any of it is recycled \u2013 but engineer Nzambi Matee is on a mission to change that. Frustrated by the level of pollution, in 2017 Nzambi constructed a laboratory in her mother\u2019s backyard. It was here that she used her self-taught engineering skills to convert plastic waste into bricks that are stronger and more eco-friendly than concrete.
Since then, Nzambi\u2019s backyard operation has grown into a company \u2013 Gjenge Makers \u2013 and the bricks are widely used across Nairobi. And at only 31, Nzambi is just getting started. As Dr Julia and Dr Ella trace Nzambi\u2019s journey, we hear from Nzambi herself about what it took to get to this point, as well as her ambitions for the future.
Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey \nProducers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey \nAssistant producer: Sophie Ormiston \nProduction Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy\nEditor: Holly Squire
(Photo: Nzambi Matee, Kenyan entrepreneur and inventor, holds plastic polymer recycled to make bricks. Credit: SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images)