“Can you drive Africa? Well, I can.” So began Hope Mapheto, founder of Greatfuel, her business which was established in 2021 and produces biodiesel from cooking oil. Her desire is to see her sustainability-inspired biodiesel powering vehicles across the African continent, and beyond.
Being one of 23 finalists – seven in the Social Impact category, Ms Mapheto (below) was presenting her business at the 6th EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2024 national finals held in Johannesburg on 21 November. She emerged as 2nd Runner-up in the Existing Business: Social Impact category of the entrepreneurship competition.
Sustainability
“I have a letter of interest from Shell Petroleum but, unfortunately, I cannot meet their demand. So, as part of the solution, youth development organisation, Africa Tikkun, has asked me to train 30 youths in my community in sustainable agriculture.”
Mapheto said she planned on creating a circular economy: growing her own crop, extracting the oil, selling it to restaurants, collecting it back to make biodiesel.
“We stand apart from our competitors in terms of our blending customisation, walking the journey with our first time customers, testing engine compatibility on the blending ration of the biodiesel.
“During production – 85% becomes Biodiesel and 15% glycerol, a by-product that helps us with our cash flow. Our average revenue margin is 43% and have generated an amount of R170 000.”
They have partnered with Biofuels Business Incubator. Mapheto said she needs funds to upgrade her plant so they could double the production.
Ms Hope Mapheto pictured in the Biofuels Business Incubator (left), extracting biodiesel from waste oil. On the right, Mapheto poses in front of youth from her community, whom she trains on sustainable agriculture. She also relies on them for collecting waste oil from households, fast-food outlets and restaurants.
She played videos of a woman saying she’d used biofuel for two years and found the only difference was the affordable price.
Questions and Answers
Judge Martin Matshego, Head of Investment Readiness Fetola: How much are you able to produce?
Mapheto: I use Biofuels Business Incubator’s facilities so production in inconsistent – around 1000 litres. I’ve been funded for my own machinery so things will improve.
Martin: Who funded you?
Mapheto: Indalogrow Programme
Martin turned to Judge Khwezi Fudu Cenenda – Director: Enterprise and Supplier Development, Avocado Vision: So Kwezi, are you funding her or am I?
Judge Cenenda (right) asked: Your yield… how much cooking oil do you need? How much biodiesel do you get per 1000 litres?
Mapheto: An average percentage is around 90%, but it depends on the quality of the waste oil. If it’s dirty, the yield is smaller. But a new technology allows the collectors to test the quality of the oil.
Judge Kwezi: Will you grow sunflowers?
Mapheto: We are still in R&D seeing if sunflower or soy beans will give a higher yield.
Judge Kwezi: Have you done feasibility studies? Costs in agriculture can be high.
Mapheto: I have. We are also testing our market: do restaurants prefer soybean, sunflower or canola oil? We will consider this before we start planting.
Mr Zakheni Ngubo – Chief Executive Officer, Blankett Technologies Group: You will need to onboard more restaurants to give you waste oil. How will you manage that cost?
Mapheto: We’re working with a company to create an app that connects us with clients so we know when to collect. We carefully plan our routes to minimise travelling costs and reduce carbon emissions because we are about that.
Charmain Naidoo is a contract writer for Universities South Africa.