From ‘garden boy’ to entrepreneur: Joseph Diliza has made a business out of using reeds for paper – and he is cleaning up a choked river in the process.
Joseph Diliza was born in the Eastern Cape and went to Cape Town to work as a “garden boy” two decades ago. Today, he is a part-owner of a shop on the Waterfront and rents a studio where he runs a paper-manufacturing business. Cape Town has become the premier tourism destination in South Africa since 1994 and this has encouraged significant growth in the number of craft activities and markets. The craft industry has relatively low barriers to entry and offers an endless scope of opportunities.
Diliza belongs to a cooperative with 31 crafters that owns a shop at the Cape Town Waterfront called Masizakhe. He has plans to grow his business – in 10 years’ time he hopes to have five full-time employees, his own exclusive paper shop and a training facility.
“When I was a ‘garden boy’ I worked for a woman called Elizabeth Marais, who asked me to help her make paper. We went to the library to get books to learn how to do it,” says Diliza.
“We experimented with many different kinds of leaves and grass, and found that short fibre is no good for making strong paper. River reeds and bananas leaves are best, but bananas are in very short supply in Cape Town.” After learning his new skill, Diliza went to work for a company called River Reed Paper. When its management changed five years ago, he ventured out on his own, forming a company called Thando Papers.
Through the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, he received management training. South African Breweries gave him a sponsorship to buy the one piece of equipment a paper company needs – a pulper. He made paper moulds and drying racks himself.
Diliza has two people working for him today, but still cuts the reeds himself, on the Liesbeeck River and in the swamps near Khayelitsha, where he lives.
He is based at the Montebello Design Studio in Newlands, where he rents a studio. He makes paper from reeds and recycles paper. Most of the reed paper is sold to artists and made to their specifications.
“I have persuaded the Cape Town City Council to allow me to cut the reeds that are choking the Liesbeeck River. I avoid the places where the birds are nesting and cut the reeds in such a way that they grow back a year later,” Diliza says. “I also use plants people throw away as garden refuse. I can make paper from dung, banana leaves, even grass cuttings. I buy hemp and sisal as well, but the river reed is the most important because it is free.
“I harvest the reeds once a month unless I get a very big order. I can make different sizes of paper. The volume varies from month to month, depending on special orders.
“If the order is for rough paper, I get less paper from the reeds. From a truckload, I can make 2 000 sheets of fine paper. Fresh reeds are best for fine paper, especially those harvested in spring. In the winter, all the paper I make from reeds is very rough.
“We don’t really specialise in recycled paper, we specialise in fibre paper. Recycling is easy: you soak the paper overnight, shred it in an ordinary kitchen blender, stir in hot water, take a mould and make the paper.” The paper made from river reed differs from other natural paper or recycled paper in its texture and appearance. It is fairly rustic in appearance, with strands of reed still visible in the weave – and it is environmentally friendly. In the winter months, Diliza supplements his income by employing young boys and girls to collect empty tin cans. He also buys copper wire from Telkom and makes trendy lampshades with the wire and cans, which are sold in the Waterfront shop. Diliza has trained six other people to make paper since he started the company five years ago. He also trains community groups, like the disabled association Kwanothemba in Khayelitsha. “After they learn to make paper, they will be able to make an income of their own,” Diliza says.
His biggest challenge is marketing. When he started the company, he made greeting cards and walked from shop to shop in the city trying to sell them. Today, he also makes picture frames and lampshades, which are very popular in the tourist market. The University of Cape Town’s book restoration centre taught him to bind books. “Until UCT helped me, I had only sold sheets of paper to artists. I realise now that I have to make products from my paper,” he says. “The Graduate School of Business also got students to teach me how to run a business. I am in the process of registering my products. I am also learning how to use a computer.”
Diliza is a dedicated entrepreneur who knows his art well and takes tremendous pride in his work. What he lacks in business knowledge he makes up by his determination and willingness to learn.