Minting money from banana stem fibre

His business might have started about two months ago but he is not new in the field of entrepreneurship. Having learnt from past mistakes, Mr Joab Bajunuue the proprietor of a cottage enterprise that makes papers and packaging bags in Kireka, a Kampala suburb, is now determined to drive business to success.

“We have good accountability processes in place and have also invested in market research and research in the various fibres that can be used to make bio-degradable products to ensure business sustainability,” says Bajunuue, who formerly owned a small cottage business but it collapsed due to financial challenges.

Mr Bajunuue who re-established his business just two months ago owes its success to Mr Godfrey Atuheire, the guiding arm of the project.
Mr Atuheire works with the Uganda Industrial Research Institute and is in charge of the pilot paper plant to train and equip young entrepreneurs with the technology of fibre processing for making paper and bags.

Mr Atuheire says the 2010 Young Achiever’s award, which recognised his groundbreaking work and research into fibre processing for paper making, energised him to develop skills of the young entrepreneurs to enable them create jobs for themselves instead of seeking to be employed.

“I have done some good research in using the various fibre to produce bio-degradable products and I thought its time to transfer such technology to the young people to put it into practice,” Mr Atuheire told Prosper in an interview last week.

Mr Atuheire holds a Bachelor of Science in Wood Science and Technology from Makerere University and a masters of science in forestry, majoring in fibre processing.
He has also under gone training in processing fibre into paper in India in 2008 and another one in processing banana fibres into textiles in 2009 in Japan.

Mr Bajunuue uses banana stems as raw materials which are sourced from Ntinda, Namugongo, Kyambogo estates and Mukono, which are nearer to the Kireka-based factory to make papers which he then uses to make paper bags.
Mr Bajunuue buys each banana stem at Shs1,000 and each banana stem produces about 25 packaging bags.

Raw materials
After collecting the raw materials, Mr Bajunuue then extracts the fibre from fresh peeled banana stalks to remove excess moisture, then treats the sorted and cleaned fibre by cooking it.

The cooked fibre is then washed with water and then pulped or beaten using a Hollander and bleached with simple additives.

Paper is then formed using casting nets, dried and smoothened before it is designed and folded to produce various paper products such as packaging bags and cards among others.
Mr Atuheire, who is the project manager, says he got his original inspiration to developing bio-degradable technology after Makerere announced plans to burn used examination scripts every two years due to lack of storage facilities.

Later government also proposed to ban the use of polythene bags (Kaveera) motivating him further to manufacture bio-degradable packaging materials.
Although Mr Bajunuue started with about Shs25 million as capital, he says with good guidance from Mr Atuheire, the business is now estimated at Shs40 million within a span of only two months.
Mr Atuheire also wrote a book titled “Handmade Paper, A Guide to Its Production and Uses, to guide entrepreneurs who want to venture into paper making technology.

Production
The project produces at least 100 packaging bags per day, retailing at Shs5,000 for the biggest size, Shs4,000 for medium ones and Shs3,000 for small ones.
He supplies supermarkets in and around Kampala, gift shops and individuals come with wedding, introduction and party orders.

“At times we get huge orders which we can’t handle because our production capacity is still low. This business’ prospects are good,” he says.
Because of the growing business prospects, Mr Bajunuue says he plans to start getting raw materials from Ntugamo, however, not in bulky form.

He said he is designing models where farmers from upcountry areas will be taught how to extract the fibre from banana stems and he buys them in kilogrammes.
He says despite Uganda being the second producer of bananas in the world after India, it’s the 70th in terms of the business because Ugandans simply eat the fruits and throw away the rest as waste yet they can be used to make new paper and other paper products, such as paper bags, cards, envelopes, folders.

He says approximately 1,000 tonnes of banana stems are abandoned after utilising the fruits mostly in western and central Uganda while tens of thousands of waste paper are burnt into ashes every year.

“This is absolutely unacceptable in our society where the youth are suffering due to unemployment. Institutions of higher learning should start teaching students practical skills so that when they come out, they don’t start their own businesses,” he says.
The project employs seven people, four on permanent and the three on casual basis but says it has potential to employ about 500 youths if it grows big.

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