For most corporate professionals, finding time to excel in a vocation like designing could be  impossible, but that’s not for Teni Majekodunmi, the CEO of EcoXchange Limited, a green energy consultancy firm which provides expertise on project areas ranging from renewable energy to trading of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) within Nigeria and across Africa.

Teni who is an expert on the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism was for two years a consultant to the Federal Ministry of Environment.  She also sits on the inter-ministerial Committees on Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Committee on Bio fuel to the Secretary to the Government of  the Federation (SGF).

An environmental Lawyer with a degree from the University of Warwick, UK, Teni’s fashion outfit, Eclectic Chique, also enjoys an enviable patronage from celebrities and her designs which include handmade African neckpieces, sandals, bamboo clutch bags, collars, brooches, bangles, bow ties, throw pillows, etc. are officially used by MNET Africa for its shows.

In this interview, Teni who was recently one of the 65 young African leaders hosted in the US by President Barak Obama under the US President’s Young African Leaders Programme, talks about her work and life as a young mother. Enjoy!

*Teni

Could you tell us more about yourself?

I attended the International School, Lagos, and after graduating from the University of Warwick, UK, with a degree in Law in 2005, I did a number of internship programmes before coming to Nigeria for my Law School. After that, I worked briefly at Rotimi Williams Chambers and then went back to the University of Warwick to specialise on Environmental Law.

My thesis was actually on the opportunities for Africa from climate change and also the financial aspects of climate change, like carbon credit. Subsequently after my Masters, I was approached by the Federal Government to help set up a climate change unit in Nigeria, and I worked on that platform for about 18 months, from 2008 to January 2010.

After setting up the climate change unit and working with an organisation called the Centre for Excellence on Climate Change, I moved to Lagos because I was getting married and had to be in Lagos with my husband. The last place I worked in Abuja was the Environmental Services Limited where I was the Head of Business Development and Legal Regulatory Services. I eventually set up EcoXchange, a green energy consultancy.

What exactly does EcoXchange do?

The three aims of EcoXchange is to deal with capacity building, exchange carbon for credit via carbon credit mechanism and also to exchange dirty energy for cleaner energy via renewable energy. If there’s power shortage in an area and there’s a lot of water, we can work with our partners in the UK and US to come in to bring a hydro machine and generate some power from that water.

In exchange for that, we get long-lasting electricity! Our main focus now is to build capacity on renewable energy because the trend has obviously not grown all-over Africa. At the moment, we work with a lot of United Nations agencies, especially the United Nations Environmental Programme.

We’ve been one of their consultants in capacity-building since 2010 and we’ve been working with them in a lot of African countries, disseminating information on the adverse effects of climate change and also the need for renewable energy.

Considering the perpetual failure suffered by our power sector, do you think renewable energy could be our rescue in Nigeria?

Yes! Waste energy for instance is one of those areas that have generated a lot of applause. There’s been so much waste around Lagos, and now, there are machines and devices set up to cut down all these wastes and convert them to power. So, literarily, it’s just a completely symbiotic waste because human waste is even part of it via anaerobic digestion; a kind of digestion that literarily just digests human waste and converts it to a power that can generate electricity.

The Lagos State Waste Management- LAWMA has a few of such projects set up, and we’re working with them as consultants. Wastes are currently being converted into electricity in about three areas in the state via this scheme. The project is however still in process because it usually takes quite a while.

Some houses at Oworonshoki presently use wind turbines which help generate power from the wind. In 2010, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation- UNIDO took twenty entrepreneurs abroad for a month programme, and I was fortunate to be the one going from Nigeria.

They wanted to showcase what was going on in terms of renewable energy in Wales and other countries, and it was fascinating to be able to see that 45 percent of their energy comes from renewable sources! As we moved from different locations, we also saw that they were using different sources for electricity.

In all these kinds of projects, a lot of legal work comes into play at the backdoor, and that is what I specialise in. I have partners in Cameroon and UK who do the technical aspects of the projects while I come in to do the legal part. Our main focus for this year is on capacity-building, and to this effect, we are working with the Heinrich Boor Foundation to mobilise local governments on climate action.

But how come you’re running two entirely different companies- EcoXchange and Eclectic Chique at a time?

I’ve always loved pretty accessories and fashion items because I don’t really like heavily-embellished clothes. I just prefer to wear a nice simple dress and then put a little accent on it. So, my love for this influenced my decision to establish Eclectic Chique in 2007; way before EcoXchange, but then it was on a quieter basis.

I’ve always been good in arts and crafts, so, I started doing a few things and people began appreciating and placing orders. Now, we make fashion accessories by incorporating things known about Nigeria and Africa into them. Right now, we’re stocking within and outside Nigeria, and the brand’s name is growing. We produce handmade fashion accessories like neckpieces, bangles, belts, etc. that are unique.