Sifa Kinoti has a deep love for the world and everything in it. It shows through her environmental engineering studies at University of Nairobi and her social enterprise, Kigwa Wood, where she champions the use of bamboo.
This passion dates back to her younger years when her parents introduced her to meaningful conversations about the world around her. These conversations motivated her to find the means to solve any problems she encountered. Away from home, in school her teachers at Good Testimony Primary School in Embakasi exposed her to environmental concerns.
When it came to trees, Sifa’s view was that for every tree cut down, 10 needed to be planted. This interest in environmental issues progressed when she joined Marion Prep School in Kahawa West in 2012. As a prefect, Sifa took pride in assisting her fellow students to take heed of issues such as littering. While in class 8, she was part of a tree-planting campaign with seeds donated by The Kenya Wildlife Service. Some of the 60 trees planted still stand today. They serve as early indicators of Sifa’s impact on her environment.
Sifa enrolled for secondary at Mount Kenya Academy Senior School. She took on the role of an environmental prefect and served as the chairlady of the Young Farmers Club. Inspired by World Environmental Day in 2018, Sifa brought her school together to tackle the issue of one-use plastic bottles. The school was burning the bottles rather than disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Under Sifa’s guidance, it was all hands-on deck as the school community came together to contribute and recycle around 2,000 plastic bottles. Some of the bottles went into a tree monument created to symbolise how plastics have become deeply rooted in our ecosystem.
As a result, the school stopped burning plastic bottles. Through the Young Farmers club, she led students in using plastics for projects like planting strawberries and vegetables to reduce waste in agriculture. She began to see how even small contributions could have a big impact on the environment.
In 2019, just before Sifa joined the University of Nairobi, she and her parents decided to come up with an environmental initiative. The first idea to come to mind was tree planting.
But her curiosity about what kind of tree would be the most environmentally friendly led her to research into bamboo. The tree turned out to have a huge number of benefits. For one, bamboo has a myriad of uses in construction and as a source of energy. The wood is also renewable. Like grass, it grows back quickly when cut down. The wood provided the perfect solution to a challenge Sifa had spotted in her grandparents’ home in Meru. Women trek long distances to the Mt. Kenya Forest to collect firewood only to find depleting trees. Her initiative Kigwa Wood was born. The Kigwa Wood campaign encourages these women to embrace bamboo. Sifa’s hope is that a fast-growing and sustainable source of firewood will bring ease to the lives of these rural farmers.
Still, the majority of the population targeted by Kigwa Wood are accustomed to reaping harvests after months. The 5 years it takes to harvest bamboo is therefore a hard sell. Recognising this, Sifa applied to a youth leadership boot camp called the United Nations Academic Impact to grow Kigwa Wood. It is no surprise she was chosen as a 2021 fellow. The programme shaped her views on empathetic leadership. She found encouragement to focus on addressing SDG 15 on life on land. One of Sifa’s main objectives is championing the sustainable management of forests and reversing the damage done to forest cover. This is especially because Meru has a presence of elephants and rhinos whose habitats are destroyed by deforestation.
While pursuing her course in environmental engineering, Sifa has also taken an interest in data science. While at university, she has taken part in incredible environmental projects. One project involves tracking the air quality in Nairobi to map out areas where air pollution is rife. In all this, Kigwa Wood continues to grow. The initiative improves the lives of those who need wood as a source of energy. Sifa has seen the benefits for those who have adopted the wood. Her family members who have used bamboo rave about its ability to resist soil erosion and be sold as wood chips.
Young, vibrant and ambitious, Sifa Kinoti shows us what we can do for the world around us with curiosity and determination.
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