5-year-old entrepreneur makes sustainable confetti

Guillermo Eduardo Juárez Francisco

is only five years old and enjoys his life as any other kid does. For some time, however, he has taken an interest in the environment .

While he plays in the backyard at his grandfather’s house, next to a space that his grandfather has used for decades to collect paper for recycling in Mexico City, ‘Memo’ tells that he has seen how people use paper and then throw it in the trash. “This affects the animals and the plants,” he states with concern.

Guillermo’s unrest led him to rekindle an idea that had been long forgotten in his grandfather’s workshop: Using recycled paper to make confetti.

Memo’s grandpa, born in the Juárez mountain range , was the first paper collector in the state. After living in Mexico City for 30 years, he noticed that too much paper was wasted in the capital of Oaxaca.

Following his grandfather’s example, and encouraged by his teacher Karina Salinas Sánchez , the kindergartner has decided to bring the colorful project back to life to reuse the “small pieces of paper” that are thrown away by factories. Thus was born ‘Confeti La Hormiguita’ (Little Ant Confetti).

With his parents’ help, Guillermo began making confetti and distributing it at the El Pochote craft market, the Supply Center, and La Poblanita, a party supply store located in Tlacolula .

The paper sheets used are shredded with a machine and are later painted with dyes of different colors that are personally chosen by Guillermo. Later on, the paper circles are left to dry and are then packed in paper bags that are sold for MXN$10 a piece . “It is an artisanal process that requires time and patience,” stated Guillermo’s mother, Alejandra Francisco .

Furthermore, Guillermo has created a confetti blower of his own design, made out of toilet paper rolls and balloons.

Given the ethical soundness of his project, little Guillermo was invited to the Business Kids congress, hosted by the Pedadi Institute in Acapulco, Guerrero . In order to present his project, Guillermo, his teacher, and his family had to reach 1,000 likes on Facebook .

5-year-old entrepreneur makes sustainable confetti

Photo: Mario Arturo Martínez/EL UNIVERSAL

At the event, Memo was praised for presenting a sustainable entrepreneural initiative.

Before his life as a young entrepreneur, Guillermo struggled with psychomotor delay. His father, Eduardo Juárez López , told that the child had undergone rehabilitation therapy for two years, since he was born 33 weeks after gestation. A number of doctors had claimed that his life expectancy was very short, and that Memo was unlikely to ever speak or walk normally.

However, Memo was taken to therapy at a Children Rehabilitation Center (CRIT) and started improving until, entering preschool, he came up with the environment-friendly confetti project.

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