Rag-picker business is recognised

A young businessman from Hyderabad in India who specializes in plastic bag recycling has become the Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 in the UK’s prestigious Prince’s Youth Business International (YBI) awards.

Ramu Uyyala established MR Plastics in 2005. The company, which has grown so quickly that it now employs 40 people, recycles the bags to make new ones. Ramu’s raw material comes from rag-pickers, via dealers, so, besides supplying a growing demand for plastic bags, he is building a supply chain in his area.

Andrew Devenport, the YBI chief executive, who presented the winner’s trophy and a $5,000 (£3,370) cash prize at a ceremony in Edinburgh, said: ‘Ramu is a worthy winner. He has created a business that is providing significant employment opportunities to his local community and has shown great business skills in the creation of a supply chain. His success is proof of how vital it is to support entrepreneurship on a global basis and how young entrepreneurs can turn ideas into sound and successful enterprises given the right support.’

The runners-up were Sri Lankan Nuwan Gunasekara, whose company converts coconut husks into raw material for products such as vases, mattresses and compost, and Nigerian Elijah Daramola, who set up his own poultry farm. 

The awards coincided with the Global Forum on Youth Employment. Adam Leach, chief executive of the International Business Leaders’ Forum (IBLF), told delegates: ‘It is very important that we remember that economic development is about people. Companies can help to promote enterprise and opportunity for economic self-reliance, respond to the entrepreneurial initiative of young men and women and foster talent – in the workplace, through management development – both now and for the leadership potential of the future.’

YBI is one of the Prince of Wales’s charities, originally set up and run by the International Business Leaders Forum. Its role is to support disadvantaged young people in becoming entrepreneurs by providing business mentoring and funds, particularly in countries where access to capital is difficult. YBI operates in 38 countries, and its network has raised more than $90million and provided employment for 90,000 young people.