Selling toilet paper on street corners turned into a manufacturing operation busrep
DURBAN - When Jenny and Jerry Maharaj started their small business selling toilet paper on the street corners of Durban, the couple had no idea that their firm would eventually grow into a manufacturing operation. Jenny Maharaj, co-founder of Forest Tissue, who has always dreamed of being a successful businesswoman, initially wanted to study food technology but her working-class family was unable to afford university fees.
Maharaj and her husband brainstormed business ideas and decided that everyone needs toilet paper so it would be a good product to sell. They sourced a good local supplier, removed the back seat of their family car, hired a few local women to work as hawkers and started selling on street corners in Chatsworth and Isipingo in 2011. Their small business, Ashkim Suppliers, which later became Forest Tissue, was born.
“We got so big we had to get a second warehouse and our supplier couldn’t supply us enough, so eventually an opportunity came up to buy a machine to convert the large reels from the paper mills to make our own toilet paper,” Maharaj said. “They came to us with no skills and we trained them and the business is now just growing and growing,” Maharaj said.
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