Meet Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: A first-generation Ghanaian-American who founded Countdown to provide circular economy solutions for plastic waste
Do you know that if we keep wasting plastic the way we do now, by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish, by weight, in the ocean? That affirmation moved the young entrepreneur Jasmine Amoako-Agyei, a first-generation Ghanaian-American, to found her company, a startup that provides circular economy education and solutions for plastic waste.
Jasmine is an honours student at Arizona State University, in the United States. She is majoring in Business Sustainability with a focus on Technology and Entrepreneurship. And she is the founder and creative director of Countdown Circular Economy Solutions.
Our goal here at Edventures is to create a world in which no idea is inhibited. We want to encourage and enable ideas by providing entrepreneurship learning and guidance. For that matter, we want to share motivating ‘edventures’ of young entrepreneurs to encourage even more youth entrepreneurship. So, we got in touch with Jasmine to learn more about her entrepreneurial path.
What is Countdown?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: Countdown is a Global Impact Lab, Design Firm, and Education Network that takes a community-centred approach to tackle plastic pollution. Our focus currently is on using technology to upcycle plastic waste into new usable consumer products in the US (at Arizona State University) and in Ghana and Nigeria. We work with youth to teach them how to use said technology while also training them to be sustainable leaders within their own communities. We were awarded the Changemaker Challenge grant and have partnered with Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) at ASU, Walton Sustainability Solutions, the Luminosity Lab, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), and Ashesi University (Ghana). This semester I will actually be teaching a class on sustainable product design and social impact at the Herberger Young Scholars Academy at ASU West as an extension of and formal partnership with Countdown.
Also, Countdown is now offered as a special class option a few times a month at the Herberger Young Scholars Academy. Through this new program (as of this August) I get the chance to work with a group of highly gifted students and teach them about social entrepreneurship, community impact, sustainable development goals, circular economy, plastic pollution, and how they can make a difference all on their own.
How was the company born?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: It was a really long time in the making, because I had the idea in 2018 when I was living in Ghana, and I realised that there was a lot of plastic waste around and polluting the country, and there wasn’t a recycling infrastructure to help with that problem. After talking to a lot of people from a lot of different social and economic backgrounds, I realised it was a pinpoint for everyone. Additionally, it was posing a really significant health risk to communities throughout the country, and a huge environmental challenge as well, affecting the water systems, and forests. There isn’t a place on earth itself that hasn’t been touched by plastic waste.
So, the statistic that really motivated me to want to do something was The New Plastics Report, by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which says that without significant action there may be more plastic than fish in the oceans by weight by 2050. That was not only shocking but really disturbing, because that’s so soon, less than 30 years away, and that affects all of us. So I said: “yeah I want to do something about it.”
I was fortunate enough to be part of The Millennium Fellowship. It’s an incredible program where they help young change-makers bring their ideas to reality. So that was kinda like an incubator for me to throw my ideas against the wall and receive the support and feedback I needed to start.
And now we are a full startup, we work with universities, high schools, and primary schools, and we teach young people about the circular economy through hands-on learning. We do product design, and systems thinking. We also do community workshops, where we teach elders and all kinds of people about what it means to manage your waste effectively, in Ghana, Nigeria, and the USA. We have a partnership with Arizona State University and a lot of others throughout the country. And we just hope to continue to grow all over the world, and really just tackle this problem at different communities levels.
So, what is Countdown’s biggest goal for the next years? What are your next steps towards it?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: I think that education is a huge way to change the world, and another thing that I’m passionate about is product design, so we have a few products that we are developing that actual tackle the problem we address by being made out of plastic waste and products that sort and process waste in a large scale.
So my biggest goal is to launch those products in the next 2 years, and really put them on the market so that way we can fund our operations, and also continue to use this waste and turn it into something valuable again.
What were the three (3) takeaways or three (3) lessons that you learned with leading this project?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: First one. You cannot do something like this alone, you need community. I had all these ideas and I quickly learn that if you are going to work with communities, you don’t primarily occupy them. Because you don’t know their needs. I’ve learned, especially through my fellowship, that people that wanna make change are often in a position where they are forcing their solutions upon the community because they think they know what’s best for them. And that’s why a lot of businesses fail because you’re not actually meeting a need. So, I understood that I have to co-create with the community, and that’s why I’m very big on working directly with them, and that’s the reason why we make community-centred solutions, identifying our stakeholders, and them telling us what they desire, and then we both coming to a point where we can say like: “Okay, this is something that addresses this pinpoint and also makes a difference, and it’s a sustainable solution.” So that’s the first thing I’ve learned.
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: Second, it’s okay to ask for help. You need to reach out to any resources that could be available to you. My university has been phenomenal in supporting me. I’ve had so many different kinds of partnerships, and through my university, I’ve received funding, support, feedback, and mentorship. So, I would say, put yourself out there and be open to feedback, and be willing to learn.
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: The third one, would be: bet on yourself, you’re more capable than you know. And nothing is impossible. Go out there and do a big crazy idea, will people look at you as crazy? Yes, I can guarantee that, but it’s so worth it. Because on the other side of that it’s “I made that happen! I could keep doing this, because people find this valuable”. And that’s probably one of the most incredible feelings in the world, to know that your crazy idea matters, and will change people’s lives one day.
What was the biggest challenge you faced so far?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: I would say probably wanting to do so many things at once. I’m a very big picture thinker and I often have to check myself and say “you have to start small Jasmine, you have to start with one thing, and make sure you test one small idea, make sure that it works before you grow it”. It’s great to have a big vision but you need to start somewhere.
I have a lot of product ideas that I want to pursue, but you have to work within your capacity, and that is an ongoing lesson.
Have you ever felt overlooked or not being taken seriously just because of your age?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: Yes. 100%. So many people tell me “you have no idea what you doing”, “Why would this work?”, “Why should we invest in you?”. Because I’m not an engineer by training, but a lot of the work I’m doing is with engineers. There’s so much discounting, like “you’re a woman, you’re this or you’re that, and why should we believe in you?”.
So I 100% agree with that, especially with age, people assume that you have to be mid-30 or 40s before you do something impactful, and that’s so not true. Young people are changing the world every single day.
And what about you being a woman?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: Yes, also. Because most of the spaces I occupy I’m the only female in the room. So that’s why I make sure that my team is predominantly female, actually. I’m so big on women in STEM and empowering them, and also showing the young kids, especially the young girls that we work with, you can reach this point too when you’re older or even sooner than you think.
Because of that, when I’m the one speaking, it takes a while for the man in the room to acknowledge that, and who they are listening to.
If you would go back in time today, to when it all started, would you do something different? And what would you tell your younger self if you had the opportunity?
Jasmine Amoako-Agyei: I would do it all the same. Because the lessons that I’ve learned brought me to this point. But I would tell my younger self to relax, Rome was not built in a day, so you’re not expected to make this happen overnight. And this is a global challenge, and it’s not going to be addressed by one singular person, but your contribution does matter, keep going, but don’t be so hard on yourself.
If you are just getting started
At Edventures, we always emphasise how much entrepreneurship education matters and how it can help people make an impact and create true change, no matter big or small. Just like Jasmine says, young people are changing the world every single day, all you need is that one idea, even if people think it’s crazy.
This interview is a part of our Young Founder series, which aims to highlight and promote young entrepreneurs across the globe pursuing their dreams and ideas, and to share their stories and insights with other young and budding entrepreneurs.
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