The founder making cutlery out of palm leaves

We speak to the Emirati entrepreneur who set up a business making biodegradable cutlery made from discarded date palm trees, driven by the goal to replace single-use plastics in UAE. Lamis al-Hashimy, co-founder of Palmade, shares how a hobby project became a business producing millions of items, the early failures that nearly stopped it, and the challenges of competing with cheap plastic. How did a failed prototype including a fork that melted in pizza, lead to a growing business? If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk Business Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business. Each episode is a 17-minute, daily deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story. Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the growth in AI, the cost of living, the economic impact of the war in the Middle East, and why bond markets are so powerful. We also feature in-depth interviews with company founders and some of the world's most prominent CEOs. These include Google's Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins. Presenter: Sarah Rogers Producers: Bisi Adebayo, Victoriya Holland and Jay Behrouzi (Photo: Lamis al-Hashimy. Credit: Lamis al-Hashimy)

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The founder making cutlery out of palm leaves is an episode from Business Daily by BBC.

This episode is 17:58 long.

This episode was published on Apr 30, 2026.

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