Denis Opudo
June 5th, 2018 will be the World Environmental Day and surely there are a number of those people who believe in taking good care of the environment who see that as a daily issue. A good example is Thabang Mabapa from South Africa an individual who is making biodiesel from castor oil. Mabapa who is both an energy and agriculture entrepreneur is the founder of Selokong Sa Dimelena.
Selokong Sa Dimelana is a startup that farms, process, and distributes castor oil for biodiesel. This is purposefully meant to kick-start in 2013. Mbape took note of a global issue and linked it with a local challenge. There is a crisis when it comes to accessing crude oil locally accompanied by the shortage in the alternative source of fuel. The solution was to convert an idle land to farming of castor oil by planting castor beans. This was aimed at minimizing oil dependency and creating more job opportunities.
The castor beans are in a position to give a large volume of oil of 55%. If this is then converted into biodiesel it turns to biodegradable that then produces lower emissions compared to fossil fuels. So far the firm has employed 12 individuals with 68 volunteers. The founder has rebranded himself as an eco-entrepreneur. Thanks to the chief in Limpopo province who offered him land for his startups’ growth. Above 60 individuals locally has involved themselves in the firm as volunteers. They have helped in tilling the land, bushes planting, and harvesting of the produce after every three months.
According to Mabapa, he started extracting the beans in his mother’s kitchen. Currently, he is using University of Wits’ lab found in Johannesburg before putting up his personal factory. He adds that he targets to grow so as to supply the whole of Africa. The castor plant does not do well in crop-bearing land forcing Mabapa to use marginal land in growing the crop. This is a threat to food security in the country. The project is mainly based in the agricultural sector but it is also of help in various industries like cosmetics, medicine, and energy. It is important to all sectors that depend on crude oil as a raw material for the manufacturing of their end products.
