KELVIN ODOOBO discovers a card business that is simultaneously making money and changing lives

A nondescript grey building by the roadside in the Kigali suburb of Rubilizi is anything but ordinary. Within its walls are scores of young enthusiastic men and women engaged in various stages of making greeting cards from waste paper.

Girls are pulping wet paper, sieving residues and laying the paper pulp on frames. Boys are cutting and pasting interesting designs on the paper while others are dying the dried paper in various eye catching colors.

When Chris Page started Cards from Africa he dreamt of building a sustainable business. His dream revolved around producing high quality products at competitive prices within a socially responsible framework.

The company employs orphans of the 1994 genocide who do not necessarily have an education but zeal and commitment to make it in life.

According their website, the card making idea came to British Page in 2004. He was inspired by a Kenyan doctor who had started a similar endeavour to generate income for women in a Nairobi slum.

Page teamed up with Rwandan artist Gabriel Dusabe and together they learned how to make paper and create simple card prototypes.

According to the head supervisor, Susan Mutoni, the bulk of their business comes from Britain and the United States. "Right now we are processing orders for Christmas cards for various customers, and we are able to reflect the increase in business on the employers’ wages because they earn a fraction of each card that they produce.” They also have the product stalls in Kigali, in Nakumatt, Bourboun Coffee and Novotel Hotel.

"We hope that the skills that we impart in these individuals will assist them in making an income and also to run their own businesses in future,” says Mutoni.

Since the founder is also a British missionary, Cards from Africa is run along the Christian tenets of loving your neighbors as you love yourself.

Most remarkable about Cards from Africa is perhaps the beauty of the handcrafted greeting cards, journals, page breaks and message pouches which are richly adorned in local and natural materials.

As one admires the various products in the showroom, there is sense of amazement and utter satisfaction at the values and ethics of a business with a mission to change people’s lives.

The greeting cards are made without chemicals, using the traditional African method of making paper, to create various textures using natural products found surrounding their working area.

Cards from Africa website emphasises that the Bougainvillea petals, Umunyinya (similar to pine needles), reflective mica rock flakes, and the imprint of woven grass mats are just a few things that are incorporated into the process of making unique paper with which to make unique greeting cards.

Even if Cards from Africa is tucked in small setting at the boundary of urban and rural Rwanda, away from the knowledge of many Rwandese, their idea has began to catch attention further a field. The company recently won a runner up position in World Challenge Competition.

The competition, sponsored by Newsweek, Shell, and the BBC is one of a growing number of competitions that are spotlighting social capitalist ventures all over the world. They also won first place in the Open for Business competition at Urbana 06.

Cards from Africa has set itself the initial target of selling at least 500,000 cards annually and in the process increase employment to at least 300 orphans.

The business is also a member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) and the Fair Trade Federation (FTF). It is thus committed to ensuring that its business adheres to the rule of fair trade.

As my ten-minute tour of Cards from Africa concludes, I can feel the energy and hope of the various groups of card makers.

Ends