Making paper from alien reeds
29 August 2002
When Joseph Diliza, a former gardener and the sole proprietor of Thando Papers, hung up his rake to explore a business opportunity, he had no idea what an enormous success his small venture would become.
During the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Thando Papers will become one of eight southern African enterprises being showcased by the World Conservation Union’s “There’s another way that works” project.
Thando Papers manufactures a range of products including natural paper products such as sheets, greeting cards and albums made from a variety of alien reeds, sisal, tree bark and soft wood fibre. One novelty item is paper made from horse, rhino and elephant dung - reportedly a big favourite with tourists.
Diliza’s success story begins in the Eastern Cape, where he was born and raised before moving to the Cape Town in 1996 to seek employment.
He started out as a gardener before being employed by one of his customers, who
needed help with an idea to start a cottage industry making craft paper from the alien reeds that choke the Western Cape’s rivers and wetlands.
The business was later sold, and Diliza decided to start his own venture with the help of the University of Cape Town’s Montebello Design Centre.
The centre helped him set up a small paper factory and studio in the suburb of Newlands, and put him contact with the university’s Graduate School of Business. Study groups at the university have adopted Thando Papers to try out their new-found management skills.
Diliza currently conducts community workshops in the townships around Cape Town and the Eastern Cape in order to pass on the skills he has acquired.
His successful partnership with the Graduate School of business has made way for opportunities for entrepreneurs such as himself by allowing them to qualify for overseas-funded development loans and exposing them to opportunities afforded by government and development
agencies.
Funded by the WKKF Kellog Foundation, the “There’s another way that works” project will allow maximum exposure for the enterprises by ensuring follow-up well after the Summit. This will enable community-based natural resource enterprises to take their place in local and global economies and get their issues placed on policy agendas.
Diliza said he was looking forward to the opportunities that attending the Summit will present. “I am hoping that the publicity and networking opportunity will result in more orders, especially from foreign delegates.”
Source: International Marketing Council
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