ComWest invests in Ploughboy

ComWest Enterprise Corp., Winnipeg, Canada, announced its initial equity investment of $1 million in Ploughboy Organics™, a Raleigh, N.C., company with a patent-pending technology that can convert the tobacco plant into dyes, fibers, textiles and other products. The global market for textile dyes alone is projected to reach $5.5 billion by the year 2015, and tobacco plants can be used in their entirety, grown organically, possess natural antimicrobial properties and can be blended with cotton, wool, silk and cashmere. With the assistance of research from North Carolina State University, the technology has achieved the proof of concept stage; pre-commercial production of dye concentrate is expected to begin this summer.