Blog Post

Here's why you should choose paper bags over single-use plastics

Choosing paper over plastic is a topic that has gained significant attention in recent years due to the growing awareness of environmental issues such as pollution and climate change. While both materials have their advantages and disadvantages, there are several compelling reasons why choosing paper over plastic can be a better choice for the environment: They will encourage exchange of packaging containers to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of styrofoams. Their Smartpacks will be distributed to participating restaurants, and participating households will receive their foods in our Smartpacks, while couriers will pick up used and washed Smartpack which will be disinfected and cleaned for delivery to restaurants.

16 startups, 5 participating countries, 196 investors. 🌍

Selected high-potential startups from Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Tanzania recently pitched for investment in our bi-annual startup showcases. These startups displayed immense potential and impressed us with their innovative ideas, excellent pitches, and overall enthusiasm.👏🏾 They will encourage exchange of packaging containers to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of styrofoams. Their Smartpacks will be distributed to participating restaurants, and participating households will receive their foods in our Smartpacks, while couriers will pick up used and washed Smartpack which will be disinfected and cleaned for delivery to restaurants.

The Spex Solution

Dercolbags Packaging Limited Company are developing SmartPack Exchange – a unique package as a service system which educates households, communities and restaurants in the city of Accra. They will encourage exchange of packaging containers to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of styrofoams. Their Smartpacks will be distributed to participating restaurants, and participating households will receive their foods in our Smartpacks, while couriers will pick up used and washed Smartpack which will be disinfected and cleaned for delivery to restaurants.

‘If you’re ambitious, there’s always a way to get things done’

What do you do when your city is flooded, claiming more than 230 lives, and one of the causes of the flood is choked drainages due to disposed single used plastics? You start a company which addresses the root of the problem. And that is exactly what Derrick Kofi Sarfo did. After the disaster in Ghana in 2015, he decided to realize better packaging alternatives, which are eco-friendly and biodegradable. So, he gave birth to DercolBags as an alternative packaging solution to the non-degradable single-use plastic packages and as part of a bigger social impact mission: To make his country cleaner. Orange Corners HQ spoke with Derrick on his company, his mission and inspiration, his Orange Corners participation and his plans for the future. Female inspiration On the question why he loves to work with women Derrick has a quick and clear answer. The source of inspiration was his mother. Derrick was born and raised in a family of 8. His mom was a business woman and he grew up watching her trade. He admires his mother for providing for her family by working hard every day. It also encouraged him to work with women in his company and mostly doing business with women. The paper bags DercolBags produces are distributed to market women, who sell them to individuals. Dercol also works with companies (40%), but most of the profits (60%) are being made on the markets. So, the goal is to expand to more markets and to produce locally. Besides that Derrick has two female coaches, who help him to be an entrepreneur. He wants to benefit women, because according to him, women are being marginalized in Ghana. However, a lot of businesses such as markets and restaurants are women led. Also by reducing plastics he indirectly helps Ghanaian women fisher folks, because there’s so much plastic in the sea, that they fish up more plastics than fish.

Spanning across industries: meet the last batch of YFP23 Autumn 🌏

The founders of the last intro round of #YFP23 Autumn are ones thinking outside the box. From revolutionizing the cloud kitchen industry and intellectual property banking to offering alternative packaging solutions, their ideas are as unique as they are impactful. Our Young Founders Programme (YFP) takes 25 founders from Asia, Africa, and LatAm for a 6-month fellowship with mentorship, expert workshops, peer learning, and networking - ending with a 5-day conference in Berlin for top performers. Nadine Abbas, KitchMarket Pamela Salvador, Keif Probióticos Derrick Sarfo, DercolBags Packaging Elizabeth Olowofila, ThinkBikes Limited Estefania Yanez Schmidt, Áurea Joseph Christopher Doroja, Synthillate Mechi Amaah, Black'n Natural Cosmetics

Most Respected CEOs Awards

I am grateful to Almighty for the unwavering support we have received from our Board, Partners , Investors,Team , Customers, the Community we serve and to the awarding committee for such an honor. I want to sincerely thank everyone who have supported us over the years and voted for us. I’m deeply grateful and appreciate the support. Thank you ~Derrick Sarfo Dercol Bags packaging Orange Corners Orange Corners Ghana MDF | Empowering People, Creating Impact Because International Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) Westerwelle Foundation Fidelity Bank Ghana THE BUSINESS EXECUTIVE CLUB LIMITED @Ghana Industry CEO Awards

Local Connections, Lasting Impact at Sankalp West Africa 2023

On a warm day during the rainy season in Accra, seven Warc Africa team members and two Miller Center staff gathered around a long table at a coworking space called buro. The agenda was simple: take advantage of being in-person together, get to know each other, and see how we can create additional value exchange between Warc and Miller Center. Basic introductions turned into open and honest check-ins, and the generous discussion that ensued was bursting with ideas, lightbulb moments, vulnerability, and peer to peer connections around leadership challenges. One round of Jamestown Coffee Company drinks later, what started as an impromptu meeting quickly became a fully fledged workshop complete with a Leadership Circle style roundtable and a mini-course from Miller Center’s curriculum. It’s amazing what can happen when you gather in-person with an incredible social enterprise team motivated by a common mission, and add a sprinkle of Miller Center methodology.

West Africa Deal Summit

Throwback to the West Africa Deal Summit. Last week we took 4 graduates from Orange Corners Nigeria and six from Orange Corners Ghana to the West Africa Deal Summit in Accra (Ghana) to meet investors and impact funds. After a trial run on Monday with our partners from Fidelity Bank Ghana and Nicholina Annor-Adjei (consultant for SMEs), it was time for the real deal on Tuesday and Wednesday. During the Orange Corners Deal Room sessions at the West Africa Deal Summit, our entrepreneurs pitched to high-level investors as Wangara Green Ventures, Third Way Capital, Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), Oasis Capital Ghana, Launch Africa Ventures and Mirepa Investment Advisors. Derrick Sarfo Gideon Dendzo Stephen Kyei Sarpong Felix Appiah N. Naiden Kutubabi, Yaa Asare, Maryam Adebola-Salami Yemi Olutoye, Boluwatife Arewa and Titilayo Falaiye: we couldn’t be more proud of you! You put it so much hard work this past week (as indeed, we know you always do!) And we’re super excited to see that it looks like more than a handful of you are going to walk away with a deal in the very near future.

Trash to Treasure: Innovative Businesses Tackling Africa's Waste Management Challenges

After some researching on the flooding in June 2015, Derrick Sarfo found that choked drainages, predominantly filled with single-use plastics, was the cause of the disaster. “This realization led me to start an environmental impact-driven enterprise, Dercolbags as a packaging firm to provide eco-friendly packaging solutions as an alternative to single-use plastic packages”, says Derrick. He goes on to add, “Since then, my drive as an Entrepreneur has been to use innovative ways to solve community base challenges focusing on responsible consumption (SDG 12), Climate Action (SDG 13), and life below water (SDG 14)”. As a result, he created SPEX as a packaging service solution to help eradicate single-use plastic packaging from the food delivery value chain. According to SPEX’s website, Ghana produces over 1 million metric tons of plastic every year with 76% of this waste coming from the food delivery sector in Accra. SPEX was created to address this exact challenge. SPEX’s solution is simple but effective. Customers order food from restaurants and vendors on the SPEX app. These restaurants and vendors then package the food in a smartpack ready for delivery. Upon delivery the rider exchanges the new order with any old smartpacks the customer has and returns them to a SPEX washing point where they are cleaned and re-sent to restaurants ready to be used again.