BAOM eco solutions (BAOM), a Cape Town-based young-woman-led award-winning biotech startup, was, by some way, the youngest startup attending the very recent Global Startup Awards Africa conference and pitching event, in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia. The event ran from October 24 to October 27, and BAOM marked its first anniversary on October 28!

“This was our first international event,” BAOM product development lead Melian Dott told Engineering News, in an exclusive interview. “We made a lot of valuable connections, not only international connections, but intercontinental ones, too. A lot of people approached us. It has boosted our confidence for presenting our company at international conferences.”

BAOM has developed cellulose-based alternatives to plastics and other packaging materials. The company’s biofilms, as it calls its products, are not merely biodegradable but compostable, allowing end-users to process biofilm packaging themselves by actually burying it in their gardens or compost heaps, thereby helping nourish their plants. Alternatively, they can give the material to their local community garden or dispose of it to for-profit composting companies. These biofilms were developed using the company’s own proprietary processes.

Dott made two pitches at the event, one on the main stage and one to investors. “We had incredible investor response,” she reports. “It was a fantastic networking event, and was so well organised. The calibre of all the startups really filled me with hope for Africa. People are stepping forward, to fill the gaps left by governments. And we were treated to such incredible cultural experiences.”

The company can produce biofilms with different thicknesses and with different textures. It has so far developed five distinct categories of biofilms, which it classifies as “thick plastic”, “thin plastic”, “vegan leather”, “cardboard” and “paper”. “Thick plastic” biofilms could be used basically for anything that flexible PVC sheeting is currently used for. “Thin plastic” mimics clingwrap and laminated thin plastics. “Vegan leather” mimics smooth cowhide, or textured crocodile or ostrich hide. “Cardboard” would substitute for real cardboard, but BAOM’s material is fire-resistant and, if it gets wet, returns to its shape when it dries out. “Paper” performs exactly like real paper, and can be printed on.

BAOM won inclusion to Global Startup Awards Africa because of votes recorded by their fellow South Africans. “We’re exceptionally grateful for their faith in us,” she highlights.

The next step for the startup will be in Paris. There, Dott and her partner, business development lead Chloe Cormack, will participate in the Women Entrepreneurs 4 Good conference, sponsored by the Bank of America, later this month.