Startup Africa had an amazing interview with the founder and CEO of Mawejje creations, a recycling company focused on turning banana waste into the banana fibre to create different artistic products.
SAN: For those who don’t know you, who is Mawejje Muhammed Dimma?
MC: I’m Mawejje Muhammed Dimma, a professional chef and a specialist in waste management living in Kampala. A social entrepreneur passionate about social change, innovation and banana fibre value addition with over 3 years experience in this field. I have worked with a number of companies in the waste management sector which has shaped me to be resilient in this industry. I am a Visionary Leadership Award Nominee and Young African Leaders Award Finalist 2019. It was of honour to be the most outstanding YALI network member 2018 during the YALI AWARD DINNER which was organized by YALI RLC Ugandan Chapter. I’m also a chef and operations manager of Rafiki catering service and team leader of Mawejje Creations, a social business and banana fibre centre focusing on developing affordable banana fibre products to reduce banana waste. we also enable banana growers to earn extra income to sustain themselves while creating job opportunities for disadvantaged youth and women in rural communities of Uganda through banana fibre production, incubation, and hands-on skills training.
SAN: Could you Give a detailed description of your business and operational
model.
MC: Mawejje Creations is a social business enterprise that focuses on recycling and developing affordable banana fibre products, which includes table mats, curtains, and papers. Our products are sold to households, craft shops, restaurants, tourists and individuals in and around Kampala, Uganda. We enable banana growers to earn extra income while creating job opportunities for disadvantaged Ugandan youth and women in rural communities through banana fibre production, incubation, and hands-on skills training.
We also equip banana growers with extraction skills where they are able to extract banana waste into banana fibres. We purchase the fibres from them at a fair cost where we directly engage youth and women in creativity, recycling of banana fibres into products of value. We are able to involve in our end-buyer (who pay or buy our services and products) i.e. households, crafts shops, tourists, textile and fashion industries; depending on the preference and choice.
SAN: What challenges in the Waste sector is your company trying to
address and what is your company’s unique value proposition?
MC: Uganda produces about 9 million tons of bananas annually, next to India; thus creating tons of waste in the form of stem and stocks, which have been left over to decompose, emitting a huge amount of methane gas and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. These emissions have a negative impact on the environment. Currently, in Uganda, there is a problem of wastage and unprofessional recycling techniques due to the limited expertise we have today. Mawejje Creations is also providing jobs to rural youths while building their entrepreneurial skills hence causing a reduction in the unemployment rate. We directly engage the local farmers and youths in rural communities in creativity, recycling of banana waste into banana fibre; generating income without using a chain of middlemen.
SAN: What is your estimated market size?
MC: Our direct market is central Uganda, which has 24 districts with an approximate population of 10 million people (National Census 2016). Our recycled products are bought by households, craft shops, restaurants, tourists and individuals. Our services are used by youth and women from low- income communities. We target to serve all the four regions of Uganda and then expand within Africa in the next 5 years with both our products and services.
