PODCAST: From Banana Farm Waste to Award-Winning Paper: Bethelhem Dejene and Zafree Papers

Episode Title: From Banana Farm Waste to Award-Winning Paper with Bethelhem Dejene

Guest: Bethelhem Dejene, Founder and CEO of Zafree Papers

Summary:

In this episode, Cory Connors welcomes Bethelhem Dejene to discuss her journey from observing waste at an Ethiopian fruit and vegetable market to founding Zafree Papers, an award-winning startup manufacturing tree-free virgin pulp from banana farm waste. Bethelhem shares how she iterated through multiple business models before discovering the potential of banana fiber, how Zafree partners with converters to supply sustainable packaging materials, and what it meant to become the first African company to win the Sustainable Packaging Summit Innovation Challenge.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Bethelhem’s origin story and how a visit to a fruit and vegetable market sparked a waste management business
• The evolution from paper recycling to manufacturing virgin pulp from banana farm waste
• How Zafree sources banana stems and leaves after harvest and extracts fiber to produce pulp
• The types of packaging products the pulp can be converted into, including corrugated, folding carton, duplex, and molded packaging
• Zafree’s partnership model with converters and customers such as AB InBev
• Winning two awards at the Sustainable Packaging Summit Innovation Challenge as the first African company to compete at that level
• Plans to have a booth at the upcoming Sustainable Packaging Summit in Utrecht
• The potential to scale the banana fiber model across Africa and other banana-producing regions
• Scaling from a pilot factory to a commercial facility targeting 100 tons per day capacity
• Zafree’s active Series A fundraising round
• Advice for sustainable packaging founders: align cost, quality, and impact or the business will not scale

Resources Mentioned:

• Zafree Papers
• Bethelhem Dejene
• Sustainable Packaging Summit
• AB InBev Sustainability
• Sway

Contact:

Listeners interested in working with Zafree Papers or learning more about their Series A fundraising round can reach out to Bethelhem Dejene via LinkedIn.

Closing Thoughts:

Cory and Bethelhem emphasize that sustainable packaging innovation must be built for scale from day one. Cost, quality, and impact must all align for a product to drive real change in the market. Bethelhem’s story is a powerful reminder that world-class sustainable packaging innovation is happening across the globe, including in Africa.

Thank you for tuning in to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors!

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