IN PROFILE: Genuine Bamboo Craft, Ghana

A bamboo enterprise in Ghana is helping add value to bamboo for better livelihoods and environmental health.

Genuine Bamboo Craft is a Ghanaian-owned small-scale enterprise that produces a variety of bamboo products as sustainable alternatives to plastic. Officially registered in 2022, the company has been operating informally since 2017 from its workshop in the growing Accra suburb of Capital Hills. Genuine Bamboo Craft’s core mission is to construct high quality bamboo items that can effectively replace common plastic products, while also providing employment opportunities for local youth and women in the community.

In this profile, we will be interviewing Evans Obeng, the Co-Founder of the company. Evans Obeng is a Ghanaian IT professional and entrepreneur who brings a unique blend of technical expertise and hands-on leadership experience to the craft business.

Tell us more about Genuine Bamboo Craft!

Genuine Bamboo Craft officially registered with the Ghana Registrar General in 2022, though the bamboo enterprise has been in operation since 2017 as an informal business enterprise. Genuine Bamboo Craft is Ghanaian-owned and small scale, primarily making bamboo products in Accra, Ghana.

What inspired you to start Genuine Bamboo Craft?

Back when I was a teacher, I worked for two years without salary. During that time, there was an inter-school cultural competition in a community that was home to plentiful bamboo, but the people living in the small farming community had not realized the full potential of their “green gold.” I had the idea to train students in making cups, spoons and other crafts from bamboo for our cultural display. We placed second in the competition, and some teachers really liked the products and wanted to purchase them. They placed a few orders, which was when I realized I could make a living with bamboo. I quit my job to found Genuine Bamboo Craft, which now works to make products that can help replace plastics like cups, cosmetic jars, flower vases, soap dishes, jar spatulas and more.

What is your driving mission, and how is it related to bamboo and/or rattan?

We seek to construct the finest bamboo products to safeguard the environment’s health from climate change. Genuine Bamboo Craft’s driving mission is to produce and promote bamboo products that can replace plastic products. These products include mugs, containers, key rings and more, most of which have traditionally been made with plastic materials. The bamboo enterprise also aims to create job opportunities for the youth and women living in the peri-urban centers often known as being home to the “urban poor” in the capital of Accra.

How do you involve youth and women in the production process? Can you share any success stories?

After I quit my job, I proposed the idea of making bamboo products to a woman who had just completed university and was looking for a sustainable livelihood source. She agreed that bamboo had great potential in this regard, and we began to work together after I taught her some new skills. She is now well versed in the craft and works in quality control. Several youth who were looking for means of livelihood also visited my workplace and were amazed with the products, so they asked for training and to join the business. Today, they have nearly completed their training, after which they will either continue to work for Genuine Bamboo Craft or set up their own bamboo business if they wish to.

Another motivating factor is that my business was selected as one of the winners in pitching our business to colleague CEOs in the 2022 Green SME Networking Festival under the theme, “Promoting Green Business Practices for a Sustainable Future,” supported and implemented by German cooperation, Invest for Jobs, GIZ and others.

I also had the opportunity to be invited by the CEO of Kontiki Bamboo Works, Hoima, in Uganda, who is doing amazing and wonderful work with bamboo to train their youth workers in bamboo souvenirs production. As part of that, I trained two women and two men who are now championing bamboo work in Uganda.

Can you describe a typical day in your life at the company? How do you balance production, distribution and innovation?

Since Genuine Bamboo Craft does not own a bamboo farm, we purchase our bamboo from suppliers who own bamboo farms. After the bamboo culms are brought to the workshop, production starts immediately. On a typical day, making a cosmetic jar or mug for example, my day which is mostly lathing work starts at eight o’clock in the morning after planning activities and drafting the output sheet. Orders are arranged by date of delivery. I select the bamboo culms and cut them into smaller logs (12 cm above the node and 2 cm below the node) for drinking cups and mount them onto the manual lathe machine where carving, trimming, sanding and polishing are next conducted. Afterward, I pass it on to my partner who is responsible for fixing the handles, freezing or boiling treatment, finishing and finally packaging them. For cosmetic jars, after lathing and drilling, I will also fix the base make the lids of each container.

Simultaneously, other products which do not need lathing like keyholders or jar spatulas are worked on by my partner. Once the product is finished, we later emboss the logo or name of clients using a mini-engraving machine, after which it is ready for delivery. After organizing local and overseas deliveries, we finish that day’s work and begin planning the next day’s activities, focusing on special request products such as shin guards, shower gel containers, bed lamps and more, before closing up shop for the night.

How does the work of Genuine Bamboo Craft benefit or impact the socio-economic livelihoods and support sustainable development?

The company provides employment opportunities, especially for youth and women in the Capital Hills community of Accra. By training and hiring local artisans to craft bamboo products, Genuine Bamboo Craft is creating stable income sources that help alleviate poverty and improve living standards for its workers and their families.

Through the employment and income-earning potential offered by Genuine Bamboo Craft, the company is directly contributing to poverty reduction in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Moreover, our products are mainly made from eco-friendly resources, with bamboo constituting about 95% of our used materials, allowing our products to contribute to the Bamboo as a Substitute for Plastic Initiative launched by INBAR and China.

What would you like our partners to know about Genuine Bamboo Craft?

Genuine Bamboo Craft is a leading manufacturing enterprise that is using traditional technology in it production across a wide range of products. These products includes cups, water bottles, cosmetic jars, flower vases and cutlery.

Is there any advice you would give to other entrepreneurs looking to transition to sustainable practices using bamboo?

My small piece of advice would be: Despite all of the recent research into bamboo, its full potential has not yet been discovered, so there is more than enough space for others to do more with bamboo. We should continue to work with bamboo until the earth is healed.