Erin Smith
“My Quest is to rid the Indian Ocean of plastic while creating both social and economic opportunity out of the collected waste and create jobs for the local community. ”
Ocean Sole Africa is a social enterprise whose mission is to highlight litter by removing flip-flops from our oceans and waterways. For more than 3 billion people on the planet, flip-flops are the only available footwear.
After about a year of use, they get discarded and end up along the beaches and waterways in Kenya. We work with locals to collect the flip-flops and transform them into unique, hand-carved animal sculptures ranging in size from a keychain to life-size.
I think we underestimate what we can bring to the table…I think it’s working through what is that passion and knowing you can make a difference.
Erin is the CEO of Ocean Sole.