Along Tanzania’s coastline, seaweed is harvested every day. It’s abundant, renewable – but low in value. For Laetus Buberwa, founder of Keltex, that imbalance was impossible to ignore.

“I watched my mother and many women in my community work long hours,” he says. “But earn very little from selling raw seaweed.”

By combining biotech with AI-driven ocean monitoring, Keltex changes that equation. The result is a low-value crop turned into a high-value material, creating new income opportunities for the communities that produce it.

Conventional leather and its alternatives come with significant environmental costs. Animal-based production is linked to deforestation, high water use, and chemical-intensive processing. Synthetic options rely on fossil resources and contribute to microplastic pollution.

Keltex offers a different pathway, taking one of the ocean’s fastest-growing resources and turning it into something entirely different. It produces a leather-like material from seaweed that is strong, flexible, and biodegradable.

The idea didn’t start in a lab. It started with a question: how can something so widely produced create so little return?

Studying biotechnology gave Laetus the tools to explore that question further.

“I realised that seaweed could be more than just a crop,” he says. “It could become a high-value material that supports people while reducing environmental impact.”

From there, the work focused on developing a process that could transform seaweed into a viable alternative to leather, combining material science with local knowledge.

The material itself is natural, but the way it’s made is carefully engineered.

Keltex uses AI-powered sensors to monitor ocean conditions such as salinity, temperature and nutrient levels, helping optimise seaweed growth.

This increases yields while maintaining environmental balance, ensuring that production can scale without putting additional pressure on ecosystems.

It’s a combination of traditional knowledge and modern technology, using data to support, rather than replace, natural systems.

Beyond materials, the impact of Keltex extends into the communities it works with.

By processing seaweed locally and creating higher-value products, it opens up new income opportunities for coastal farmers. What was once sold as a low-value raw material can become part of a more resilient and sustainable value chain.

For Laetus, this is central to the innovation.

“This work is about more than materials,” he says. “It’s about creating dignity and opportunity for the people who depend on them. I am here to rewrite a story of struggle into one of opportunity,”

And for others trying to change the system, his message is simple: stay curious, collaborate, and keep pushing forward.

“If you’re trying to change the system, be proud of your vision and the steps you take. Lasting impact is built step by step, for both people and the planet.”