Mark Musinguzi

Hya Bioplastics is a Ugandan startup whose vision is to put sustainable food packaging in the hands of millions across the African continent. How do we want to do this? We currently convert agricultural waste into biodegradable packaging materials that can be used in various applications such as food & fruit packaging, cushioning, etc. We use our proprietary starch baking technology to effectively upcycle waste plant fibers e.g. banana stems, sugarcane bagasse in addition to cassava starch to create cost competitive (with Styrofoam plastic products) alternatives to plastic. Having developed and improved this technology significantly in collaboration with the USDA Bioproducts team, we are looking to become the leading sustainable packaging provider across Africa and in so doing, provide an additional income stream for farmers, who can earn from trading their plant fiber biomass while offering a feasible option to plastic across Africa. Our premier product line consists of fruit trays and disposable party plates. We are currently scaling up production from 500 to 3000 product units. We are currently located at MOTIV, the largest makerspace in Uganda, and we are in the process of moving to a larger production facility.