State-owned power utility Eskom’s Business Investment Competition Awards held earlier this month saw Mamapo Chemicals from Limpopo crowned the 2015 winner, walking away with R150 000 to help expand the business and create more employment opportunities.
Launched eight years ago by the Eskom Development Foundation, the Eskom Business Investment Competition Awards encourages and rewards entrepreneurship by providing a platform for small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) to cross the “next major hurdle” in business development.
Eskom Development Foundation CEO Haylene Liberty-Nel states that the annual competition is aimed at recognising, rewarding and inspiring small businesses that are significantly contributing to the fight against unemployment and poverty.
Ezekiel Madigoe, who is a chemical engineer by profession, founded this year’s winning company in 2012 to manufacture and distribute cleaning chemicals for industrial, commercial and household consumption.
“Part of our production process involves collecting waste chemicals from detergent manufacturing companies, recycling and processing them into degreaser and car wax as well as a range of multipurpose cleaners,” he says.
He adds that, so far, the business has grown far beyond expectations and now intends to buy additional machinery to increase production to meet the current demand. Currently, the factory employs 34 people who Madigoe trained himself.