The Banana Fiber

On July 24th at 6:22pm, I sent a text message to Dimma on his Facebook page asking for his story.  At that time, I was burning with the fire to tell a story,  I saw his profile picture from a mutual friend we shared called Lynne Itungo.  I was so curious to  view his profile. My hands quickly moved to the click button.  I followed every post to the minutest detail. I could only see the love for banana fiber.

 I was fascinated that banana fibre can make really nice products. As a young girl, together with my little friends, we only used banana fiber to make dolls and ropes for skipping. As I sent that message, I was praying hard that he could answer, and it worked he replied, and today, three months later, I share his story.

As we kick start November, Diimas story challenges us to ask : Have  you acted on your idea the past ten months?

Muhammed Dimma Mawejje is the team leader of Mawejje Creations, a social enterprise and banana fiber center that is improving the social and economic status of youth and women in Uganda.  Dimma is also a chef by profession and a specialist in waste management living in Kampala. 

What inspired you to start Mawejje Creations?

Growing up as a child, I realized that we, the people of Uganda,  consume a lot of bananas and on average 1kilo per day. This  produced tonnes of waste in form of stem and stocks.  Most people are interested in the banana fruit during the harvest period . This leaves out the stem to rot. Dimma says:   

People do not value banana waste especially after harvesting the fruit. From the community I come from, I saw a gap in youth unemployment and hands-on skills. This was my turning point. I decided to turn waste into wealth. He adds.

After discovering that banana plantations are more than just the food we get from them, but that they possess a hidden treasure called fibers which can be used in different innovations. I founded Mawejje Creations as social enterprise and banana fiber center which develops affordable banana fiber products and enables banana growers earn an extra income.

Through Mawejje Creations,  I want to improve the social and economic status of banana growers, youth, women in my community and to create employment opportunities for unemployed.

Can you tell us some of the activities you have done to make the lives of others better?

We have created  employment opportunities for unemployed with 3 full time and 14 part-time young people working at the  enterprise. 

We have trained over 10 banana growers on how to extract waste into fibers . Over 116 young people have benefited from our skills program

 We launched an  annual program called BAFETE 2019  which stands for Banana Fiber Extraction Training Editions that equip  youth and women with extraction and hand craft skills. 50 young  teens and youth have learnt how to make jewelry using wasted banana fibre.

 We have conducted PostCovid19 Hands-On Skills Training where we equipped 16 younger people and 10 women in community.  From this training we retained 2 younger ladies who are working with us.

Mawejje shares with us some of the products they have made from banana fibre ranging from wall clocks, earrings, photo frames and glass covers.

                          

What are some of the challenge you have faced along the way?

Every journey has it's own pit fall that prepares us for greatness , Dimma says. It is too lonely because you spend a lot of hours thinking about how to execute your work not knowing that you are losing those around you.

What are some of the lessons you have learnt that you are unashamed of sharing?

Being a leader is not about growing in ranks, but it is mostly about knowing the weakness of those you lead and becoming a part of their strengths to achieve greatness.

Each time you step in to your office, always make room for everyone to grow , in doing so you will inturn grow automatically.

What can you tell anyone out there that would love to do what you are doing?

You do not need to have a vision because we are not all visionaries like Steve Jobs , Bill Gates but you need to find one big vision , own and maximize it, follow your ways regardless of the environment!.

More about Mawejje

Mawejje's love for social work has opened up so many opportunities for him. He has served as a facilitator at  Kyusa. 

He is a Fellow of the African Presidential Leadership Program Cohort 3 , a Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) fellow cohort 38 ,  ATCG Innovation Award winner Recipient 2020, Nominee TOP 40 UNDER 40 by Vision Group 2020,  Young African Leaders Award Finalist 2020,  Global Environmental Award Nominee 2020,  Pursuit Incubator Fall Cohort 2020 ,Ignite Innovation Lab 2020,  Readers to Leaders Fellow 2019, African Change-makers fellow 2019, Visionary Leader Award Nominee and African Younger Leaders Award Finalist 2019. 

" You can be anything you want to be, the difference is you can do it better".

Story by : Mawejje Dimma 

Team Leader Mawejje Creations