When Nabeela Abubakari, Founder and Director of the goTo Initiative, sat down with Just4WomenAfrica, she made one thing clear: sustainability in Ghana must move beyond advocacy and into practical, community-driven solutions.
For Nabeela, the problem was never a lack of information. Ghana, like many countries, is not short on conversations about climate change, circular economy models, or sustainable development. The real gap, she explained, is the lack of an enabling environment that makes it easy for people, brands, and communities to “do good.”
“There’s so much information about how to live sustainably,” she said. “But is it easy for people to do good? Is it easy for brands to do good? For communities to do good? We found that it wasn’t.”
That realization led to the birth of goTo Initiative an organization focused on bridging the gap between sustainability knowledge and practical implementation.
Ecomakola: Rethinking Plastic Use in Ghana’s Largest Market
One of goTo’s most promising projects is Ecomakola, launched in Makola Market one of Accra’s busiest and largest open-air markets.
Rather than simply condemning single-use plastic bags, goTo chose a different approach: understanding why people rely on them in the first place.
Their findings were simple yet profound.
For the average Makola shopper, a plastic bag represents:
- Convenience
- Hygiene
- Respect
- Privacy
“It wasn’t really the rubber bag they loved,” Nabeela explained. “It was what the bag represented.”
With this insight, goTo worked with SMEs, including Ghanaian sustainable brand Ocean Bags Ghana, to design practical alternatives. The project began in September 2024 under the Youth Climate Action Fund, with support from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, and was implemented on a modest $2,000 budget.
Within four months, the team established a 10% reuse benchmark a measurable target to assess behavioral change. If Makola achieves a 10% reuse rate by the end of 2025, it would signal that their strategies are working and could eventually scale to 80–90% reuse rates.
For Nabeela, Makola represents a demographic often left out of sustainability advocacy yet it holds enormous influence over Ghana’s waste footprint.
Working With Businesses — Not Against Them
Corporate partnerships are central to goTo’s strategy, but Nabeela is clear about her approach: meet businesses where they are.
She observed that traditional advocacy often focuses heavily on ideals, ignoring business realities. This creates resistance and a “you versus us” dynamic.
goTo takes a different stance. The organization respects companies’ bottom lines and crafts sustainability solutions tailored to each business’s peculiarities. Rather than demanding costly commitments, they focus on practical, scalable entry points what Nabeela calls “low-hanging fruits.”
For example, a fast-moving consumer goods company concerned about plastic waste could invest in university research into better polymer types or recyclable packaging systems. Small, strategic interventions can spark larger systemic change.
Sustainability in a Rapidly Urbanizing Accra
Accra’s rapid urban growth presents both opportunities and challenges. As the city becomes increasingly cosmopolitan, consumption patterns are changing and convenience culture is rising.
goTo’s strategy? Get closer to community.
The organization actively engages young people, particularly those aged 18–44, who are vocal about environmental concerns and eager to see a cleaner city. Instead of top-down solutions, goTo builds projects alongside communities, selecting specific “hotspot” problems and solving them collaboratively.
Ghana’s Progress: Satisfactory — But Not Transformative
When asked about Ghana’s overall sustainability progress, Nabeela offered a balanced but sobering assessment.
Within current systemic and governance realities, she considers progress satisfactory. However, she believes Ghana is far from achieving true circular economy systems where waste is designed out and materials circulate in closed loops.
“I haven’t encountered any ecosystem that fully resembles a true circular economy yet,” she admitted.
She sees sustainability not merely as environmental activism, but as a trigger for national transformation — from reducing post-harvest losses to stabilizing food prices and leveraging renewable energy storage.
ESG, Greenwashing, and Real Impact
As ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting gains traction, many companies struggle with implementation and risk being accused of greenwashing.
Nabeela believes that in many cases, the issue isn’t malicious intent but a lack of understanding about where impact is maximized.
For example, repeated cleanup exercises may look good in reports but do little to address root causes. In contrast, investing in reusable bag systems or behavior-change strategies may deliver measurable long-term results.
goTo helps businesses identify where their ESG investments can generate tangible, trackable impact ensuring that sustainability efforts move beyond optics.
What’s Next for goTo?
The immediate focus remains on scaling Ecomakola and strengthening community ownership of the project.
But Nabeela is particularly excited about Circular Tech an emerging arm of goTo that aims to leverage AI, cloud computing, and digital tools to accelerate Ghana’s transition to a circular economy.
Her call to action is simple:
- Reuse your bags.
- Support practical solutions.
- Get involved.
Sustainability, she insists, must be accessible, measurable, and rooted in community realities.
In a landscape often dominated by big promises and technical jargon, Nabeela Abubakari and the goTo Initiative are quietly proving that meaningful change begins not with grand declarations but with understanding, collaboration, and practical design.
