{"id":10595,"date":"2026-10-02T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/?p=10595"},"modified":"2026-10-02T10:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:28:19","slug":"from-the-ja-social-equity-program-to-the-ecowas-stage-eco-twist-ranks-among-top-60-startups-at-ecowas-startup-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/from-the-ja-social-equity-program-to-the-ecowas-stage-eco-twist-ranks-among-top-60-startups-at-ecowas-startup-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"From the JA Social Equity Program to the ECOWAS Stage: ECO TWIST Ranks Among Top 60 Startups at ECOWAS Startup Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ECO TWIST, a waste-recycling venture founded by participants of the 2025 JA Social Equity Program in Sierra Leone, has been selected among the Top 60 startups at the 2nd ECOWAS Startup Awards 2026, held at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. The team earned its place from a pool of 10,900 applicants, putting it in the top 1% of entrants from across West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea behind ECO TWIST was born during the JA Social Equity Program (SEP), implemented in Sierra Leone in 2025 by CASE Salone. Through SEP, the team developed a waste-recycling innovation that turns waste into economic opportunity for communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-02-at-10.09.06-AM-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10597\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over three days in Abuja, the team, representing the Eco-Twist Green Generation Initiative, pitched its innovation to investors, funders, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders from across the ECOWAS region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Standing here in Abuja, at the ECOWAS headquarters, a place many young Africans dream of reaching, is a powerful reminder that young people from a small country like Sierra Leone are not only part of the conversation, but are also building solutions and creating impact across the region,&#8221; the team shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For ECO TWIST, the awards offered more than a stage. &#8220;It is a platform to share our journey, demonstrate what is possible, and connect our local innovation with regional and global opportunities,&#8221; the team said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Comes Next<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ECO TWIST now moves into the acceleration phase of the program. The team plans to strengthen its business model, build strategic partnerships, connect with investors, expand its waste-recycling value chain, and take its innovation to more communities and markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond the milestone itself, the experience has given the team greater visibility, new connections, and renewed confidence to keep building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;From Sierra Leone to the ECOWAS region, we are twisting waste into opportunity,&#8221; the team said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-02-at-10.09.07-AM-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10600\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ECO TWIST&#8217;s journey shows what youth empowerment looks like in practice: when young people gain entrepreneurship education, mentorship, and platforms to compete, they turn local challenges into regional solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">JA Africa thanks the Z Zurich Foundation for supporting the JA Social Equity Program, and CASE Salone, our implementing partner in Sierra Leone, for bringing the program to young people and supporting teams like ECO TWIST from idea to regional stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Partner with JA Africa to expand entrepreneurship education and youth empowerment across Africa, and help more young entrepreneurs like ECO TWIST take their ideas further. Learn more about the JA Social Equity Program: <a href=\"https:\/\/ja-africa.org\/programs\/social-equity-program\">ja-africa.org\/programs\/social-equity-program<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ECO TWIST, a waste-recycling venture founded by participants of the 2025 JA Social Equity Program in Sierra Leone, has been selected among the Top 60 startups at the 2nd ECOWAS Startup Awards 2026, held at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. The team earned its place from a pool of 10,900 applicants, putting it in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":{"featured_alumni_video":"","year":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-02-at-10.09.07-AM.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10602,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10595\/revisions\/10602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}