Startup Story
Wada Kealotswe is the founder and director of Aiko Creations t/a Eco Zera in Botswana, a company that manufactures eco graphite and colour pencils. The business has been running for 2 years and today has 3 permanent employees and 15 part time employees, mostly youth who have never worked before. Wada is a Development Economist from Botswana with over 10 years’ experience doing developmental work, and a graduate from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. The company was a 2021 runner-up for the Catalyst SEED award in the Waste Management category, and its stories have been featured on global platforms like Forbes and Xinhua.
LoA spoke to the impact driven Wada Kealotswe this month to learn more about her recycling mission and her growing, sustainable business.
What does your company do?
Our company manufactures eco graphite and colour pencils using recycled newspapers.
“What makes our product special is that it is made from recycled newspapers which could be going to the landfill increasing gases that are not environmentally friendly.”
“I love nature and the thought of knowing that some trees are cut down for the manufacture of wood pencils motivated me to recycle.”
What inspired you to start your company?
I was inspired by the love of recycling paper. I was in the 2019 Cohort for a Youth Summit with the World Bank and pitched a paper recycling project that ended up reaching the semifinals. I was motivated to further explore the idea of recycling and ended up finding a niche with recycling newspapers. I also love nature and the thought of knowing that some trees are cut down for the manufacture of wood pencils motivated me to recycle.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
What makes our product special is that it is made from recycled newspapers which could be going to the landfill increasing gases that are not environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the product is 80% handmade which allows us to hire more people and create employment.
Tell us a little about your team
I have a team of 3 who are employed on a permanent basis and who all work in our workshop. The team is talented and has gained experience in the art of perfecting the pencil production. We have also trained 15 young people who are engaged when the work load is beyond our capacity.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My entrepreneurial journey started when I was a teenager, I grew up with my grandmother who was an entrepreneur and I guess that rubbed off on me. I wanted to do business and I would sell things to my fellow school mates. After high school when I was about 19, I registered my first company but it was short lived as I had to leave the country to further my studies. During my studies I continued selling cosmetics to my colleagues at the university. After graduating I returned home and tried a few franchises that were not in my country - it failed. I then tried a magazine with a friend but that also failed due to funding. My last attempt before the current business was a paper bag manufacturing company with a friend. This one did not fail because of finances but instead because of a law that was to discontinue single plastic use which was reversed. So I lost clients of paper bags to plastics. I just shifted the company to the current business.
“My future plans and aspirations for the company are to see it upscale and be able to reach the global markets while creating viable employment for the masses.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
My future plans and aspirations for the company are to see it upscale and be able to reach the global markets while creating viable employment for the masses.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
I get satisfaction seeing the customers appreciating and using the products.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
My advice to women is that do not wait to have enough money to start anything, the little you have can help you start something small that will help you achieve your bigger goal. Be consistent and persevere in all circumstances it’s not always easy.
Contact or follow Eco Zera
FACEBOOK | EMAIL ecozera20@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it…
Today, as the environment is continually under threat and climate change is a very real problem impacting all our lives, the need to find more environmentally friendly manufacturing solutions is key. Cutting down trees to make wooden pencils no longer seems to be a sustainable option. Wada Kealotswe is an entrepreneur who is playing her part to find more environmentally friendly ways of producing products such as pencils, and she has looked to recycling to achieve those goals. She is a great example of how women entrepreneurs are impact driven to find solutions to key social and environmental problems, and her Eco Zera pencils produced using recycled newspapers do just that. Inspirational! — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa