Turning passion into profit
With help from the Malaysian government, she started a business that converts the fibres into compostable paper products. Boase started in food packaging because of its low design requirements. She found investors, partners and suppliers for the Malaysia factories; she also sourced buyers in a market slow to kick its plastic packaging dependence—never doubting that her vision made sense. Her focus paid off.
Boase's Malaysian partner and supplier runs the factories, employing more than 100 locals, while back home, her Canadian company takes care of design, marketing, sales and distribution.
Waving the hedgehog/husk, Boase explains, "This is what's left after the small palm fruits are removed to be pressed for their oil. We steam, chop and mulch it, then make it into pulp." The dried form is sold to paper companies and the wet pulp is piped to an adjacent factory to be pressed into moulding machines for food packaging. Boase has successfully convinced such big players as Walmart and Loblaws that her product is the answer to increasing consumer demand for more eco-conscious packaging.
"No one else is doing this," Boase says quietly, shaking her head at what, to her, seemed so obvious.
Meet more women changing the world: Handbags with heart. And don't forget to make a difference yourself with 20 ways to do good and 20 more ways to do good!
You can also read about trading a corporate job in for seaweed, eco-friendly travel, or find out if you're an eco-worrier. (And no, that's not a typographical error!)
This article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of More
