The bamboo team is developing a low-cost treatment technology to transform bamboo into a desirable material, by building a venture model around selling the process and providing the training to communities to use the treatment system, along with training in the concept’s of design development to create market appropriate products such as low cost farm tools through the ideas of co-creation.
Original Challenge: Bamboo is a sustainable and fast-growing plant that grows well in Ghana. It has exceptional strength, absorption, anti-microbial and other properties. Bamboo can be used to make a wide variety of products for both the local and export markets. Processing bamboo and selling the products is a way rural Ghanaians can use an abundant resource to create a sustainable source of income. Increased use of bamboo could also reduce the rate of deforestation, which is reported to be an estimated 3% per year in Ghana. This project is to identify a market opportunity for a product made from bamboo, design and build the equipment needed to make it, and develop a viable business model for it.