Uzoma Bailey Ayogu
CTO, Co-Founder at Biochar Industrial Group (BIG)
United States
About Uzoma Bailey Ayogu
Uzoma Bailey Ayogu is CTO, Co-Founder at Biochar Industrial Group (BIG). Location: United States.
I'm building two companies on a single bet: that Africa will industrialize this century, and it will do it green. BIG provides biochar as a service to agricultural processing facilities. We convert their waste, like nut shells and husks, into soil-improving biochar and durable carbon removal credits, turning a disposal cost into a revenue stream while lifting yields on the farmland around them. Releaf Earth pioneers agricultural processing solutions built to create industrial opportunity in rural African communities by raising productivity, incomes, and crop yields. In partnership with BIG, we convert our own palm kernel shells into biochar, making our operations carbon-negative by design. We're backed by Y Combinator, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, AirMiners, Milkywire, and Future Africa, among others. Industrialization has been the most powerful force in human history for moving people out of poverty, and Africa's industrialization is the biggest economic and impact opportunity of this century. I believe the green economy is how we seize it. Through biochar and carbon removal, the continent can build industry that delivers high integrity, durable and the lowest-cost carbon removal in the world, competitive globally from day one while putting planet and people first. Africa can lead on both.
Skills
Additional experience
CTO, Co-Founder
Releaf Earth (YC W19)
Started January 2017
Education
- Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Duke University
- Summer Study Abroad, Beijing Language and Culture University