From the ashes of a technical solution, Akorfa Dagadu emerged with a profound understanding of the intricate dance between innovation and societal impact. Her journey, a testament to the power of systems thinking and community engagement, began with a mobile app aimed at revolutionizing recycling in Ghana. But as she delved deeper into the heart of the problem, she discovered a reality far more complex and interconnected than she'd anticipated.
A Solution in Search of a System
When Akorfa Dagadu embarked on her MIT adventure, she envisioned a mobile app that would empower people in her home country of Ghana to actively participate in local recycling efforts, fostering both environmental stewardship and economic opportunities. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and she and her co-founders set out to build a solution, convinced that they held the key to unlocking a brighter, cleaner future.
However, as she soon learned, the reality on the ground was far more nuanced. "Informal networks of waste pickers and aggregators were already doing the work," she explains. "They'd developed a system that was already working, but it was invisible, undervalued, and excluded from larger recycling conversations."
This revelation marked a turning point for Dagadu. She realized that her initial approach, while well-intentioned, was insufficient. It was a technical solution in search of a systemic understanding. This realization led her to the PKG Center for Social Impact, a beacon of support and mentorship that would guide her transformation.
Pivoting to Systems Change
The PKG Center, with its Fellowship program and IDEAS Social Innovation Incubator, provided Dagadu with the tools and resources she needed to pivot from a technical solution to a systems change approach. "At MIT, there are a lot of opportunities focused on entrepreneurship," she notes, "but not as many that emphasize how you can do something for the environment or your community."
Through the IDEAS incubator, she refined her app, Ishara, to connect existing recycling networks with the broader value chain in transparent and fair ways, leveraging blockchain technology. "The biggest thing PKG has given me is a way of thinking," she reflects. "The systems thinking mindset really stays with you. You start to see everything as connected. Technical solutions are not just technical; they have social and economic implications."
Community-Engaged Chemical Engineering
Dagadu's collaboration with Chanja Datti, a recycling company in Nigeria, exemplifies the power of community-engaged research. "That collaboration has directly informed my research," she says. "What started as a PKG-supported exploration has now grown into a full undergraduate-led research project at MIT, focused on one of the hardest questions in recycling: what to do with multilayer plastic waste."
Her chemical engineering and materials background, coupled with her systems thinking mindset, enable her to approach recycling challenges holistically. "Thinking about polymer structure, processing, and what is actually feasible," she explains, "is critical to my work on the ground. But it is also shaped by everything PKG emphasizes. You cannot separate the material from the system it lives in."
Entrepreneurship's Lonely Road
As Dagadu's venture evolved, she faced the challenges of entrepreneurship alone. "I went from being part of a strong team of three to building Ishara largely on my own," she recalls. "That's when I understood what people mean by entrepreneurship being lonely. The doubt, the weight of decisions — it became very real, very quickly."
However, she found solace and support in the relationships she developed through PKG and the Kuo Sharper Center for Prosperity and Entrepreneurship. "It’s not just about having a team," she realized. "It’s about having a community that can hold you through the moments when things fall apart."
A Global Perspective
Dagadu's journey is far from over. As a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, she will broaden her community and explore the forces shaping material flow on a global scale. "I want to keep asking the same question that’s shaped so much of my work so far," she says, "not just how we design better materials, but how we design systems where those materials can actually work."
Through Ishara, she has seen the intricate dance between systems and communities in the context of recycling in Ghana. Now, she is poised to explore this question on a grander stage, in China, the manufacturing hub of the world. Her journey is a testament to the power of systems thinking, community engagement, and the relentless pursuit of a sustainable future.
