Does evidence justify Circular Economy as the path for development for Africa?

How to measure the level of circularity of a circular economy tagged company

The session will discuss a framework for measuring circularity. The process, information required and the benefits. We will engage with participating entrepreneurs to share their experience on using the framework and its benefits for their organisations.

Les preuves justifient-elles l’économie circulaire comme voie de développement pour l’Afrique ?

La session discutera d’un cadre pour mesurer la circularité. Le processus, les informations requises et les avantages. Nous dialoguerons avec les entrepreneurs participants pour partager leur expérience sur l’utilisation du cadre et ses avantages pour leurs organisations.

Host: Footprints Africa

Erik Roos Lindgreen

Researcher and Consultant Footprints Africa

Deborah Ohui Nartey

Research Analyst

Jokudu Guya

Professional Officer, ICLEI Africa

Matthew Hurworth

Professional Officer, ICLEI Africa

Session Summary

Does evidence justify the circular economy as the path for development in Africa was a thought-provoking session featuring the insights of researchers and experts in the exciting field of circular economy. Participants were split into break-out rooms to discuss why the circular economy must be measured, and how it can be measured, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Liezel Kruger-Fountain, Head of Urban Sustainability Unit at City of Cape Town, profoundly commented that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure”. This sentence was quoted multiple times by participants and became a central theme of the discussion.

Matthew Hurworth from ICLEI Africa explained that qualitative data crucially contextualise quantitative data. Erik Roos Lindgreen outlined Footprints Africa’s research pertaining to the Strategic Circular Economy Impact Assessment (SCEIA) framework, a comprehensive model for assessing the circularity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This framework needs to be adaptable and modular as SMEs often lack the resources for extensive analysis.