Mtamu Kililo
Mtamu Kililo, a Kenyan architect-turned-material innovator is remaking the walls around us from the ground up. Raised in the scrublands of Maktau, Taita Taveta, he watched farmers burn mountains of cane bagasse and coffee husks, then asked a simple question at the University of Nairobi’s architecture studio: what if waste could become shelter? A 2017 research fellowship with MASS Design Group in Rwanda supplied the laboratory; a year later he returned home and co-founded Myco Tile. The venture bonds mushroom mycelium with sugarcane, rice and sisal residues to produce insulation boards that are fire-retardant, compostable and half the weight of gypsum—materials now specified by eco-minded developers from Kilifi resorts to Nairobi tech parks.
As chief executive, Kililo oversees 100 employees across Kilgoris and the capital, funneling rural biomass into a low-carbon supply chain that has already diverted 5,000 tonnes of agri-waste from open burning. His plant’s modular presses can be shipped in shipping containers, a design aimed at scaling production to Uganda and Tanzania by 2026. Next on his drawing board are load-bearing myco-blocks and a farmer revenue-share scheme that prices carbon savings alongside raw fibre. Kililo’s thesis is clear: Africa’s smartest buildings will grow from the crops it already harvests.