‘Coffee is grown in Ethiopia, yet it is roasted and packaged elsewhere into the finished product. This is where the majority of the profit is made, and thus this money fails to benefit Ethiopian society. This is the main reason why we would like to manage the entire production process locally and thereby create many jobs.’
Gerard van der Wal
In an exceptional case, Dioraphte financed a ‘social enterprise’. With the assistance of a loan from Dioraphte, Frisian entrepreneurs Gerard and Baukje van der Wal launched a packaging company in Ethiopia in 2010. Their primary objective was not profit, but rather to create employment and to give the Ethiopian economy a boost. ‘Today, we have seventy people on the payroll – people who not only receive a salary, but also a strong sense of self-esteem.’
Gerard van der Wal is a man on a mission, with outspoken opinions. For instance: ‘The world is going down because of greed.’ And: ‘Paying tax is a responsibility’. These are statements one will not often hear an entrepreneur say. Nevertheless, Van der Wal is a proper entrepreneur, albeit one with ‘ideological intentions’. At an early age, he started his own business, then sold it and spent a year travelling through Africa together with his wife. While travelling, they engaged in voluntary work ‘on the borderline between development work, business and missionary projects’. Over the course of that year, Van der Wal realised he wanted to contribute more to the world, but not through the usual development work. ‘I was keen to use my talents as an entrepreneur.’
Tax Payer Award
When Van der Wal was offered the opportunity to produce packaging for the local market in Ethiopia, he wrote a business plan and then went looking for the ideal investors. In other words: investors whose primary concern was not about money, but more about idealistic goals. ‘The legal predecessor of Dioraphte provided us with a loan at, as far as I can recall, an interest rate of just five per cent and they also purchased some of our shares.’ From this money, Van der Wal leased business premises as well as buying the machinery needed to produce yoghurt and drink cups, products that previously had to be imported. ‘But it was never our intention to have an automated manufacturing plant; rather, our primary aim was to create employment. We now have seventy employees, who are offered excellent terms and conditions as well as secondary benefits. The employees feel a shared sense of responsibility towards the company and take pride in their work. Moreover, just like we pay taxes as a company, they do too. This contributes to the further development of the local community. A few months ago, we were awarded the Silver Tax Payer Award by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, an accolade given to the most reliable tax payers. That is something I am proud of. The payment of taxes is not a punishment, but rather an instrument to assist the community.’
Coffee
Despite the idealistic aims of the company, or possibly even thanks to these aims, the business is doing really well. Alongside their local customers, Holland Dairy is Crown Packaging & Plastics’ biggest buyer. ‘What’s great is that none of the shareholders contributed any of the money, but everyone has made a healthy return. That includes Dioraphte. In addition, the initial loan has been paid back and a further loan, secured in 2018, has also already been paid off.’ The business has been operating for ten years now but Van der Wal, like his wife, is too much of a pioneer to rest on his laurels. They would like to do it all over again but this time with coffee. ‘Coffee is grown in Ethiopia, yet it is roasted and packaged elsewhere into the finished product. This is where the majority of the profit is made, and thus this money fails to benefit Ethiopian society. This is the main reason why we would like to manage the entire production process locally and thereby create many jobs. In order to do this, I once again, need investors and shareholders who do not consider profit the most important thing. Perhaps together we could make some kind of dent against unhealthy capitalism.’
