Jozour is a company that is converting agricultural byproducts such as date palm midribs into wood to be used for furniture-making and other interior designs using an innovative technology developed by its founders. Jozour’s mission is to reduce pollution from the burning of these raw materials while also creating jobs and valuable end products for domestic and global markets.

Facts, figures & impact

More than 400,000 tons of the agricultural waste product, palm midribs are burned annually in Egypt.

• Jozour is working to prevent this environmental hazard by collecting the midrib agricultural waste from farmers and, using their innovative machines, putting it to productive use as a manufactured sustainable wood product.

• Jozour hires in rural areas, reducing migration into the cities for low-wage day laborer jobs, which most often results in the expansion of the slums.

• Their model creates jobs all the way up the value chain, providing jobs from low-skilled work to high-end product design, manufacturing, sales and export.

• Jozour has increased its capacity to collect raw palm midrib material by 8x, increased its production capacity by 3x, and reduced production time by 70% over the past 2 years.

The RISE effect

To support Jozour’s work, RISE:

1. Provided a financial consultant to Jozour to assist in the company’s valuation, financial projections, and preparation for fundraising.

2. Attracted a top global designer in bamboo, to work with Jozour on identifying designs that are suitable for Jozour’s sustainable palm wood material.

3. Attracted a top sustainable wood/materials sciences expert to advise and work with Jozour on improving efficiency and quality of their production using palm. Together they tested and scientifically determined the structural composition of the palm midrib, and developed and identifyied the optimal product applications for the palm material.

4. Has directly contributed to an increase in process quality as well as manufacturing efficiency.