By Albert Mwazighe (Daily Nation)
Every time he would visit the dandora dumpsite while working in the garbage collection industry several years ago, Anthony Ndung’u would be perplexed at how much of the waste at the site consisted of paper, a product that could be reused or easily recycled.
When it rotted, the paper waste, which accounted for more than a quarter of all the waste at the dumpsite, generated harmful gases such as methane, which, being 25 times more toxic than carbon dioxide, had serious implications on the health of the people living within and around the area. “It was disheartening seeing people exposed to adverse conditions that could be avoided by simply reusing or recycling the product creating these conditions,” said Ndung’u in an interview with Powering SMEs. With nothing more than the desire to resolve this issue for the local communities, in 2004, Anthony founded Green Pencils Limited, a company whose aim would be to convert paper waste into pencils.
“Both pencils and paper are made from wood, so to me that seemed one of the easiest ways to deal with paper waste, what I had however not envisioned is how difficult it would be to convert paper to wood that can be sharpened,” remarked Ndung’u.
For nearly a decade, Ndung’u used the money he got from his waste enterprise to try and develop green pencils that met industry standards, but all his efforts were futile, due to lack of sufficient resources. “I would get some money, attempt to manufacture the product, then stop where the money ended and wait until I got more funds, then continue. All through, I never gave up on my vision,” said Ndung’u. His efforts finally paid off in 2012, when he produced the first sample of quality green pencils. The entrepreneur then patented the product, branded it and began looking for a market.
“We delivered the pencils to two leading supermarkets, but unfortunately, shortly after distributing the products, our pencils were recalled, not because of quality but because our competitors felt threatened,” noted Ndung’u.
His company was paid in full by someone the supermarket termed as a ‘secret benefactor, even though none of the products they had delivered was sold. Some were donated, while others were given back to the company. The supermarkets never accepted another of his products. “It was the same case with the schools where we attempted to sell the product. Here, we were told that the government recommended a certain brand,” noted Ndung’u. Fortunately for them, the topic of sustainability was gaining a lot of traction among the business community at the time and their product just happened to be what corporate organisations needed to meet their sustainability goals.
“Corporates had these CSR initiatives, some would have CSR in both education and environmental conservation. Our pencils were a tick for both, because of that, our product got a lot of traction, 99 percent of our sales were now from corporate,” explained Ndung’u.
Just as their business was beginning to grow, in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, affecting businesses across virtually all sectors. When this happened, businesses began to cut down on the most non-essential spending. “The first thing that these corporations began to get rid of was the corporate social responsibility initiatives. We lost 99 percent of our market just like that and had to close for about a year,” noted Ndung’u. They picked off again from where they had left when things started to return to normal. KCIC’s SWIFT Program provided Green Pencils with financial, market access, and capacity-building support. The company has since expanded its product range to include coloured pencils and plantable pencils that grow into trees, herbs, spices, or vegetables.
“When you use a pencil, you do not exhaust it completely, it gets to a point where you can no longer hold or sharpen it, so you have to throw it away. That part you throw away, is where we put a seed,” said Ndung’u.
