Making bags from recycled magazine paper

mag bag

Bianca Mlilo, Business Reporter
BEING quick to embrace changing social values is a sure way to attract increased business and this is what a group of enterprising Bulawayo women have just done.

They call themselves “Moving Mothers” and have set up a manufacturing outfit trading as Lady May Accessories and Handbags.

The company makes bags from recycled magazine and calendar paper. Other products in their range are curtain holders, lamp shades, wall hangers and plate mats.

The recycling process, though long and tedious, is rewarding to the hardworking women who fend for their families from the proceeds of the enterprises.

“We tear a page, measure three centimetres vertically and horizontally and draw lines then cut along the drawn lines, glue the pieces together and then roll them,” said Esnath Dube, a member of the group.

“Then we leave the paper to dry, and that takes three to five days. So you can see that it’s a long process.”

Dube said each individual makes about 10 bags per month which are sold for $10 each while some go for $40-$60 each.

Clutch bags are priced at $35 each while a set of jewellery is priced individually with earrings pegged at $5. The women also make bracelets, which they sell at $8 to $10 each while necklaces cost $12 each.

“The products are deemed expensive but what makes them so pricey is the labour involved. A $40 handbag consumes 300- 350 beads and the time spent to produce one is a lot,” she said. Dube said their breakthrough came last year when a member of their group, Junior Nyatsanga, travelled to Kenya for a convention on HIV-AIDS related issues where she met fellow entrepreneurs who were involved in a similar project.

Nyatsanga is a regional co-ordinator of HIV and Aids support groups in Matabeleland at the Assemblies of God Church.

“After realising that there were many women in the church living with HIV-Aids and others who’re caregivers, the church sponsored me to go to Kenya under the HIV-AIDS programme,” she said.

“While I was there I saw some women recycling paper to make beads and that piqued my interest. I closely observed them and when I came back home I taught Moving Mothers what I had learnt there.

“Life has really changed for us because we now have our own source of income as mothers. The kids have enough to eat and they’re not chased away from school for lack of school fees.”

The women also import some of the material for making bags such as fishing lines from South Africa.

Cloth bags are made from java material, which is often used to make what are commonly referred to as African attire.

Another group member Margaret Mpofu said their business was thriving as it was well-received by the market.

“Sales are good and people are interested in our products because of their uniqueness. It only needs you to be diligent because the more bags you make the more money you make,” she said.

“We need an international market because other countries, especially America and in Europe, have a greater appreciation for recycled products because they understand them better.”

The women encouraged other unemployed people to join the business, saying it was not only meant for women but anyone with a passion.

“This is open to everyone, men and women and young people. At least you’d have a source of income and of course that’d keep youths off the streets,” added Dube.

“Diligence is the way to go because it determines your success in what you do.”

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