Unstoppable: Nzambi Matee

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of an engineer who turned plastic into gold, all starting from her mother’s backyard.

Every day, around 500 tonnes of plastic waste is generated in the Kenyan city of Nairobi. Hardly any of it is recycled – but engineer Nzambi Matee is on a mission to change that. Frustrated by the level of pollution, in 2017 Nzambi constructed a laboratory in her mother’s backyard. It was here that she used her self-taught engineering skills to convert plastic waste into bricks that are stronger and more eco-friendly than concrete.

Since then, Nzambi’s backyard operation has grown into a company – Gjenge Makers – and the bricks are widely used across Nairobi. And at only 31, Nzambi is just getting started. As Dr Julia and Dr Ella trace Nzambi’s journey, we hear from Nzambi herself about what it took to get to this point, as well as her ambitions for the future.

Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston Editor: Holly Squire

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix,
0:06.0	the Science of Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. On a beach in Mombasa Kenya a young woman stands barefoot in the ocean,
0:40.3	water lapping at her ankles.
0:43.0	But each gentle wave brings something unexpected,
0:47.0	plastic bags, thick floating and tangled.
0:51.0	She stands there, surrounded by plastic and thinks I need to do something about this.
1:00.0	I'm Ella Hubbard and I'm Julia Ravi. We're both producers for BBC
1:04.4	audio science but before that we were scientists and these are the stories we
1:08.9	wish we don't. This is unstoppable for Discovery on the BBC World Service.
1:14.0	The story I'm going to tell you this week, Julia,
1:19.0	is about turning something potentially damaging into something useful.
1:24.1	Well, I'm here for a transformation story.
1:26.4	So, as another 500 tons of plastic waste builds up in the Kenyan city of Nairobi every day, one woman would begin a movement
1:36.5	towards using this plastic and creating a sustainable future for Kenya from her homemade lab and her name is Anzambi Mate.
1:47.0	Habba and Haba Abba
1:50.0	Small actions will eventually make a big impact.
1:53.0	I'm guessing that's Anzambi.
	...

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