A project that began with a young Mozambican’s keen eye for the litter on the streets of Maputo has just won the most prestigious engineering award on the African continent. The Mozambican startup Agriview won the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, for creating biodegradable tableware made from corn husks — an innovation that combines environmental sustainability, economic impact and climate resilience.
“Each biodegradable plate gives rise to a tree and helps remove up to 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year”, stresses Joaquim Rebelo, co-founder of Agriview.
Founded in 2021 by Rui Bauhofer and Joaquim Rebelo, Agriview was born with a clear purpose: to turn agricultural waste into sustainable solutions. The project proposes replacing disposable plastic with tableware made from corn husks, which, after use, decomposes naturally and releases seeds able to germinate. Besides reducing plastic waste, the initiative encourages reforestation and adds value to underused products.
Inspired by a documentary about biodegradable plates made from pineapple leaves in Central America, Bauhofer noticed the discarded corn husks and the plastic waste piled up by the roadsides of Maputo in 2022, and saw an opportunity there.
“We believe we are the first to make biodegradable plates using corn husks”, says Rui Bauhofer, in a statement released by the Royal Academy.
The initiative’s impact is also economic: farmers who saw their harvests devastated by extreme weather events, such as Cyclones Idai and Kenneth, can now recover between 10% and 20% of the lost value, by selling waste that previously had no commercial value.
With its win in the “One to Watch” category of the Africa Prize — a distinction awarded to innovative and scalable solutions, in a competition with representatives from 30 African countries —, the startup now plans to expand production by acquiring industrial machinery. The aim is to scale the project to African, European, Asian and American markets.
Agriview is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, by promoting a circular economy that reduces plastic pollution, regenerates ecosystems and boosts rural communities.
“This prize is an international testament to the work we have been developing over the past three years. We are putting Mozambique on the map of innovation for Climate Resilience in Africa and in the world”, concludes Rui Bauhofer.
Established in 2014, the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation is the largest engineering award on the continent, celebrating technological solutions with a positive social and environmental impact in sub-Saharan Africa.
