Esethu Cenga runs Rewoven, an early-stage textile recycling startup based in Cape Town, South Africa. Rewoven diverts textile waste from landfills by collecting it from the source and facilitating its reuse and recycling to make various products in the furniture, automotive, construction and fashion industries.
Rewoven’s vision is a fully circular Pan-African clothing industry that is embedded strongly in environmental, social and cultural sustainability. Currently, Rewoven has diverted over 500,000 kilograms of textile waste from landfills in Cape Town. The start-up currently employs seven people.
Before joining the Ministry of Environment, she worked at Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture as the administrative coordinator for academic affairs, extension and applied research. Prior to that, she served as an environmental audit and monitoring officer at Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) for more than seven years and also as the alternate focal point for the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer, and the Nagoya Protocol focal point, where she managed different projects aiming at regulating access to the genetic resources. In her capacity as an environmental audit and monitoring officer, she conducted environmental audit activities for different projects under operation and monitored their compliance with environmental regulations.
She is a member of the African Women in science and Engineering. A Rwandan national, Beatrice holds a Master’s in biodiversity conservation from the University of Rwanda.
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