KWeb Ecommerce Transformation Conference

I spoke at this conference in June on sustainability and ecommerce. During this year we have picked up a number of indicators that ecommerce consumers want online businesses to take more steps towards environmental sustainability. Takealot, for example, announced recently that it would be using biodegradable packaging, and a Ghanian firm is now assembling electric-powered motorbikes which the new national Rwandan Ecommerce company has bought for its deliveries. Countries are also tackling plastic waste. Kenya banned plastic shopping bags some years ago. Cameroon has a similar law in process. Nigeria is pulling women and people from disadvantaged communities into the fight against plastic pollution choking its cities, waterways and rural communities. This is a seismic shift from the way the plastics crisis has been approached until now. Earlier this year, a group of researchers in Nigeria, commissioned by the Government through the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), conducted a national gender, equity and inclusion analysis of plastic pollution in Nigeria. The researchers concluded that supporting women and disproportionately affected communities to lead as market actors will strengthen efforts to realise a circular economy for plastics, considering the essential role they already play in the value chain.