When growing up, Kenton Mutethia would see large, leafy banana trees all around him in Meru County.
However, focus was on the fruit while the rest of the parts such as the stem and leaves were used as livestock feed or discarded.
“I had never thought of any economic value of the stem apart from giving it to cows and goats,” says Kenton.
But a twist of fate would reveal to him the value of the stems, spurring his entrepreneurial spark.
"Local solutions are pivotal to addressing environmental pollution and climate change."
“It was not until I visited my grandmother that I saw her make ropes out of the banana fibre stems that she used for holding her cows and goats.”
After graduating from Egerton University with economics degree, he decided to make better use of banana stems. He established Bafiex Products Enterprises that in 2021 started manual extraction of fibre from banana stems for making various items such as hair, pillows and cushions.
His venture has won several prestigious awards and accolades. He emerged the Meru County Winner under the Presidential Innovation Award 2023 powered by Kenya National Innovation Agency.
The award gave him the much needed financial muscle to automate the banana fibre extraction.
He also emerged the Eastern Africa Winner Manufacturing Founder of Year 2024 under-30 category powered by the Founder of the Year Awards for using the environment-friendly banana fibre to manufacture.
He believes that such local solutions are pivotal to addressing environmental pollution and climate change, adding that through his venture, farmers earn.
Despite the major strides, the entrepreneur is facing major challenges such as capital to drive growth through mechanisation.
-George Munene