Innovator Joseph Nguthiru has turned a personal challenge into an award-winning environmental enterprise. In 2021, he and classmates were stranded for hours on Lake Naivasha when water hyacinth, a weed that disrupts fishing, navigation, and irrigation worldwide, blocked their boat. That incident inspired their engineering project to convert the invasive plant into biodegradable products. Nguthiru envisioned ‘one problem solving another’, so launched HyaPak Ecotech Ltd to create eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastics, including packaging bags and seedling wrappers. HyaPak has already removed over 700 kilograms of hyacinth and partnered with Kenya’s government in a programme to plant 15 billion trees over ten years. Nguthiru has also invented a solar dryer, reviving Kenya’s pyrethrum farming, and leads Adopt a River, which has cleared more than three tons of river waste while educating communities on climate action. He believes lasting change requires grassroots involvement, proving innovation and community engagement can drive sustainable solutions.