restore nature

1.Increased land degradation on steepslopes.

As population increase, local communities are encroaching steepslopes for farming .Clearing of Natural vegetation in these carbon rich ecosystem have led to unlimited problems including: soil erosion,river siltation as well as low productivity and profitability among communities in these areas.on large scale  in Kenya, farming activities in steep highlands has caused  rise in rift valley lakes  and we are on verge of witnessing ecological disaster as salty water Lake baringo  is hundreds of meters away from merging with fresh water L.bogoria.In 2023 ,alone , more than 200 people died in kenya highlands due to landslide with hundreds more displaced, research has shown that these landslide are caused mainly by human activities and clearing of vegetation. large scale clearing of native vegetation ( with our interest being nettle in mountainous sloppy regions ) affect biodiversity as hundreds of insects and small invertabrates that depend on these crop decline in numbers . 

With government initially allowing  community surrounding  forest conserved areas to extract resources from the forest, it have turned into a nightmare as population cut lots of trees for farming and government efforts to reforest these areas is highly affected by the population destroying trees at young age as they see them as  long term benefits alone. These has lad to ban of activities in several forests in kenya  with more than 200000 families affected . We believe in a coexistence  learning from unique relationship from nepal traditional communities and their forest where people around the forest area can profit from natural vegetation ,earn from it and conserve nature .

2. High level of carbon emission ,environmental pollution and carbon credit imported to kenya through importation of 177000tonnes of second hand clothing annually with most of it ending up in dumpsite  and dumpsite fires within an year. These importation apart from pollution have led to death of local textiles industries. Green nettle textiles believes in production of natural ecofibre and clothing from natural ecosystem in a sustainable process in a way that what we ware takes care of nature.

Unlike many players in the industry who focus on ease in production and cheaper options, we have chosen a path in which we embrace , circularity ,sustainability and eco conservation in our brand  and aim to replace the revival of cotton sector in africa whose production leads to more utilization of arable  land and water that could be focused in food production.

With these two scenarios occuring in kenya, Green nettle textile aim to solve the problem of low supply of Eco sustainable textile in kenya market amidst increase supply of non sustainable textiles through engaging population with degradative steepslope to carry out eco conservative farming for economic sustainability  and nature conservation.

We help local farmers with steepslopes and community forest area to carry out profitable and sustainable   ecosystem restoration through restablishing of native nettle vegetation which we buy for circular and sustainable textile fibre extraction .

to areas meant for reforestation , we work with community forest area association who plant trees and establishes nettle as a companion crop,Nettle protect young trees from grazing animals and act as a cash crop every 3 months to conservation association . at tree maturity, these nettle provide cover crops and ensure locals do not over exploit trees as they already have a sustainable source of income . 

to  produce our  eco fibres and wooven fabrics from stinging nettle grown on steepslopes,we employ an  Eco conservative  process of biological letting at farmers point.These ensure that apart from us getting fibres, locals get fermented plant extract which they can use as biofertilizer or biopesticides to reboost production ( no wastage in downstream processing ) .

Through  these , we enable local population with steepslope to protect and benefit from their effort to prevent clearing of natural vegetation, especially nettle which is native in these areas  and helps them reestablish nettle plantation on degraded areas where clearing has being done earlier. These apart from being a cash crop help in conserving biodiversity as nettle crop act as host to more than 100 species of insects and small vertebrates.

from research , growing nettle alone without considering other benefits accrued through commercialization of fibre , leaves and shoot leads to a carbon sink of 3000 kgs of co2 per acre per year. These helps in fighting global warming .

we do these by: Engaging local farmers in the steep slopes to establish Stinging nettle plantations. For every 3 months we buy nettle stalks which we use for fibre extraction. Nettle shoots and leaves are directed for use in cosmetic and alternative nutrition. Through this we are able to offer sustainable and continuous eco-cash crops to local farmers. The nettle plant re-establishes after harvest and is thus a cover crop all year round which helps in biodiversity conservation as nettle plays host to hundreds of insects and small vertabrates.  Our nettle yarns are stronger than cotton, versatile than silk and cheaper to produce than wool. The nettle fibre characteristics make it easier to blend with other fibres. With its regenerative nature, resistance to pests and little water requirements, nettle  fibre has the potential to  replace other conventional fibres in Africa and globally.

we are a double impact venture , 

1st we offer a sustainable  and a commercial  eco conservative solution to hundreds of thousands of small scale farmers and community forest associations who have being struggling to farm and conserve steepslopes in their jurisdiction(ownership).

to these population we offer a  continuous cash crop and  way to earn while they are carrying out their ecosystem conservation . all we do is to reestablish what naturally grew in these areas.  commercialize it together with local population and let the scale while profiting.

To people in lowlands and river mouths  , we are a conservation body that ensure that the waters that flows downstream are safe and clean. through establishment of stinging nettle plantations on steepslopes , we help prevent soil erosion, mineral leaching&accumulation in rivers as well as prevent occasion occurrence of flush floods . through these , we make water safe to drink downstream  but most important water bodies safe with fishing communities around rivers mouths benefiting as clean safe water is key to  coral reef survival hence their survival too.

As a company , we are in business  and the product we that we sell above all the conservation and ecosystem resilience activities are over is nettle based eco fibres as well as woven fabrics . to these end we target eco-conscious middle class population that cares about what they ware, what's its made of and the impact its production had in environmental and community it was produced in and long term market where we have a rare opportunity of revolutionizing textile industry in Kenya and Africa through being market leaders in production of Eco conscious brands . 

To explain these,Africa population is on increase at an estimated 2% per annum. By 2035, it's estimated around 2 billion people will be living in Africa. Increase in population increases demand for clothing. Notably, the middle-class population is on a steady rise and research has shown a direct correlation between increase in middle-class population with the increased demand for eco-social conscious goods. Eco fibre production process leads to community livelihood improvement. With the availability of eco-fibre and clothing in Africa being too rare, we  are  working  to increase its  availability  and  also    remain globally connected  . World major fashion brand are pushing for sustainability and most of them has set a sustainability department in their company.For the last few years of existence, we have being able to reach some companies and we are working with their sustainability departments for research . Though accounting for 15% of our business, hand craft and hand wooven products are sold directly from our website and we have had clients from 15 countries.

Consumption of sustainable apparel has grown by 508% between 2016-2018 with the trend shifting upward as people are becoming more conscious about what they wear and current fight of climate change were fashion serve as the second most pollutant in the world. we target on long run to reduce direct importation through local making and sourcing. 

 we are diverse team of innovative personel who have being working together for the past 4 years . through these thick and thin journey, we have being able to understand each persons stregnth and weakness and are able to exploit the strengths while still trying to improve each other to be best .

we are a combination of different professions,  different backgrounds and business operations experience brought together by common passion and vision of seeing these venture scale and proven to be effective at global stage in the field of sustainable textiles and social innovation

the team is lead by  jonah mwangi ,Founder and C.E.O of the venture.Biochemist by profession farmer by passion and highly experienced in social entrepreneurship.he serves as overall head of the venture with his main roles being strategy development,design innovation and coordination of business activities  . jonah is highly exposed in global climate entreprenuership and had several  times participated in global forum fior advocancy in climate justice . 

to the team , he brings scientific innovation skills, networks and social design innovation skills .

peter chege : head of fibre production (processing ), Industrial chemist by profession with 5 years of experience in fibre production , green chemistry and environmental impact assessment. A trained social entrepreneur who previously founded a waste management venture . he is passionate about green planet and brings his scientific knowledge to ensure all our downstream operations are climate and environmental friendly .  

james waithaka : mechanical engineer and head of product development( woven fabrics ) . james brings a wealth of knowledge is stepwise mechanization and making work easier. as a trained social entrepreneur, he is key in the team strategy development as well as product production .  He is always on research on ways we can make operations easy, faster and affordable but within planetary boundaries .he has being part of the team for 4 years assuming full role an year ago .

the production team is assisted by 

judy muthoni : chief operations manager .Trained accountant by proffesion,trained and experienced social entrepreneur with 4 years experience in social entrepreneurship and innovations. She aids in design innovations and business partnership as well as internal business coordination Susan Macharia: biologist by profession and chief conservation officer in our venture,leads production and monitoring 

Esther muthoni :nurse by professional,heads partnerships and relations and offset of non fibre masses

 Sophia wambui: talented knitter and weaver and leads textile production and community training The team is working close with local farmers who does the primary fibre letting reducing the need for in factory fibre processes.

The team is assisted by team of advisors from egerton university department of biological sciences , biochemistry department as well as department of textiles

 we are working with 600 small scale farmers  with steepslope  who are engaged in  farming of nettle  in additional to a community forest association with 200 members that we are working with in reforestation of mt kenya castle forest area where thy plant trees in 300 acres degraged units in which we help them establish nettle and earn from it as they care for trees .

60 women  from these groups have being trained in nettle pre processing and weaving .

we scaled down operations  to these numbers to enable us harmonize production and standardize the products that we produce.

To gain credibility among global players : MIT solve is one of the biggest platform where world impacting ideas are shared, people learn and the best of the best ( as per peoples views are choosen). Though it may not seem so to the organizing team , those who drop off during semi final and below feel  less ready to impact the world as solvers are more demonstrated as winners ( the best ) and most potential partners focus in these while investing. Its always funny after a partnership negotiation that an impact funders takes your inability to become a solver as a weakness in part of your business. To these end , i aim to be prove that what i do can change the world , and one way to do these is through being among mit solve best teams .

To be great, you need to walk with great people and if they trust you at tender age then you will be great, 

MIT SOLVE is a power house of great ideas , being part of it gives credibility to those who know you and beyond.we dream to counted among those who are great .

our main challenge currently is acquisition of decortication line and milling machine which will standardize production and lower the cost of extraction to 33%.  with adequate financing we shall be able to acquire these within a short time.apart from financing, mit will give us a global exposure which is key to driving conversation about the need for sustainable fashion that is produced with circular benefits to the society.with textile being the second most pollutant in the world,climate change mitigation on top, mit will place us at a better point to scale and impact on the most affected continent on the earth as well as place us in lead position to advocate of changing clothing to be within planetary boundaries. being a global award , association with mit  will give us credibility among future investors who shy away from  investing in early stage ventures due to risks involved. mentor-ship and networks acquired will be key on our scale pathway.

To network , to learn  and to share our knowledge to potential replicator and adopters who we can work with to scale our impact beyond the beach head area .