Marketing & Advertising

In the first year of the woman's studies at Addis Ababa School, Bethelhem Dejene Abebe went to the Atkilt Tera marketplace, the biggest fruit in addition to vegetable market in Ethiopia, together with her mother. The conditions with the market shocked her enough to decide that waste management was what she desired to commit her life in order to.

“It was surprisingly dusty, it smelled really poor. It really was definitely not healthy, ” she claims. “It was at that moment we decided that I should do something to make a difference. ”

Bethelhem is actually co-founder and CEO of Zafree Papers, a company that is certainly introducing a 100% tree-free paper pulp made out of agricultural waste. Instead of using wood to make paper pulp, Zafree Papers’ progression utilises wheat and barley straw, preventing smallholder farmers through burning this waste material that triggers air pollution. The company’s processing facility happens to be being constructed in Debre Berhan
Coming from concept to business approach
Since the visit to the market there are a few attempts that didn't reach the goals Bethelhem had in your mind. “However, I believe which when one door ends, another opens. One failure contributes to another success, ” she says.

First, she simply recycled the paper waste products from her own family. Then she embarked on research on how to scale that recycling business to something more private. She eventually decided go away from recycling, to producing wood-free paper pulp that may be provided to paper producers, utilising agricultural waste without sacrificing the caliber of the eventual end product or service.

Then came the knocking on doors. “I have knocked on all the doors, ” she laughs. “We have more when compared with 20 private banks in Ethiopia and Relating to been to just about all, knowing nothing, simply asking loans with out any collateral. ”

She eventually got project finance in the Development Bank of Ethiopia plus procured land in Debre Berhan’s conventional park. All that was required from her, had been 25% equity. “I didn’t even really know what an investor was with that stage, ” your woman says.

Friends then recommended of which Bethelhem enrol for a entrepreneurship training workshop offered through the Entrepreneurship Development Centre around Ethiopia. “This was a turning point personally. I learnt about entrepreneurship, I learnt the dos in addition to don’ts and I met many people that showed me how you can start my business in addition to raise funds, ” your woman says.
Soon thereafter, within 2018, Zafree Papers was selected during BlueMoon, an incubation procedure for startups in Ethiopia. BlueMoon furnished seed money and Zafree Articles was on its way.

And in 2019, Bethelhem was chosen for that Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Procedure, landing $5, 000 in addition to nine months of work outs and mentorship. She as well received the Seedstars DOEN Stretch of land Restoration Prize of $10, 000 as same year.
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