Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 28
AGRICULTURE
Photo credit: Zafree Papers
FROM CEREAL
TO PAPER - HOW
ETHIOPIA’S WOMEN
SAVE MILLIONS OF TREES
Combating deforestation through the
creation of paper out of cereals – that’s
the goal for these two young women in
Ethiopia, and more specifically to avoid
wood utilization as the primary resource for
paper pulp.
provided technical support and seed money,
and in 2019, Zafree also benefitted from the
support of the Tony Elumelu Foundation
Entrepreneurship Programme, landing USD
5,000 with nine months of training and
mentorship. In the same year, they took home
the Seedstars DOEN Land Restoration Prize,
and another USD 10,000.
Dejene and Fikre Bethelhem are co-founder
and CEO of Zafree Papers, a startup which is
introducing a 100% tree-free paper pulp made
from agricultural waste. Instead of using wood
to create paper pulp, Zafree Papers’ innovative
industrial process utilizes wheat and barley
straw, preventing smallholder farmers from
burning this waste material, which leads to air
pollution.
The company’s processing facility is currently
under construction, but many projects are under
discussion. “We have customer commitments
in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Kenya and
Tanzania,” says Bethelhem. “Additionally,
the company is conducting feasibility studies
in both Zambia (where we’re working with a
commercial farmer willing to supply land for
a processing plant) and in Nigeria for possible
future expansion.”
With demand for paper increasing worldwide,
Zafree Papers has the ambition to provide
tree-free paper pulp from agricultural waste to
paper industries in Ethiopia and in East Africa.
Producing paper is expensive and requires
imports, but this startup uses locally-sourced
cereals, working with 8,000 farmers to improve
efficiency.
“We kill 4 billion
trees every year
to make paper. So,
let’s imagine a type
of paper made with
0% tree. (…) Our
ambition is to save
2 million trees from
being cut down.”
Dejene Bethelhem,
Zafree Papers CEO
Originally devoted to traditional paper craft,
Zafree Papers moved into tree-free paper
pulp production after an incubation with the
blueMoon programme in 2018. blueMoon
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Photo credit: howwemadeitinafrica.com
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