SoSo Care

The problem

Nigeria generates over 34 million tonnes of waste yearly, including 20 billion PET bottles of which less than 10 per cent is collected, sorted and recycled due to poor logistics and awareness which causes poor sanitation, public health problems and damage to the environment and oceans. At the same time, because of pervasive poverty and poor healthcare financing (less than three per cent of Nigeria’s 200 million population have health insurance), quality healthcare is out of reach for the majority of Nigerians, including women, where maternal mortality is high.

The company

SoSo Care is a micro mobile health insurance company using an innovative approach to provide health insurance to low income populations by providing an option for them to pay for health insurance cover using recyclable waste as premium.

Project description

SoSo Care’s project is to scale up their current offering where they purchase recyclable waste from low-income individuals and sell to middlemen and recycling companies. Proceeds are used to provide health insurance premiums as payment to the households who opt into the scheme. Users can also opt for cash payments. 

To ease the process of waste collection, the project aims to increase automation of SoSo Care’s processes through introducing digital and mobile applications. In addition, the grant will support SoSo Care in introducing a processing element to their operations which will enable collection of more waste and increase the value of waste collected.

Founder and Co-founder

Chinonso Opurum – Founder

Veronica Agana – Co-founder

Message from the Founder

“The funding from the GSMA will enable us to improve our technology and recycling value chain to ensure more people have access to quality healthcare using fewer kilograms of recyclable materials to fund their premium.”