Glenmore resident manufactures sanitisers for DUT
He founded his own business after he struggled to secure employment.
GLENMORE resident and Durban University of Technology (DUT) Master’s student, Ntokozo Mabaso (30) has merged his skills and passion to assist students with his sanitiser initiative.
Mabaso, who graduated with a BTech in Analytical Chemistry at DUT in 2014, founded his own business after he struggled to secure employment.
As part of his goal to assist others, the dedicated businessman supplies DUT with sanitisers to ensure the university never experiences a shortage.
Mabaso, whose company operates as a mobile laboratory, and does product testing, validation, research and development, said, “I engaged with DUT’s Chemistry Department’s Professor Phumlane Mdluli and asked for permission to produce these sanitisers for DUT. This was after I heard that the University’s Department of Biotechnology had stopped the manufacturing of sanitisers.”
After much discussion with Prof Mdluli, Mabaso was granted permission to use the laboratory in the Abdul Hameed building at ML Sultan Campus to produce the sanitisers, which are supplied to the DUT Covid-19 Task Team.
Mabaso said he started manufacturing the sanitisers at home and used their family garage last year after he heard reports that many stores were running out of sanitisers. “The Covid-19 pandemic took the country by storm.
When sanitisers started running out of stores, I asked my dad who was once at DUT, to assist me to come up with formulations for the sanitiser.
We worked on the formulations together and I started selling it to the public. I then approached Prof Mdluli to supply DUT with the hand and surface sanitisers.
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Since DUT wanted a larger scale, we agreed on creating a mini production reactor with a production capacity of 200 litres.
“It has been an interesting journey especially after realising that our formulations meet the standard of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The sanitiser is very effective as it contains 70-75 per cent ethanol,” said Mabaso.
He said they are looking to upscale and market the sanitiser to different colleges and universities. His plans are to grow his business by also manufacturing household cleaning products such as bleach, dishwashing and hand soaps. Mabaso said he fell in love with science while studying towards his National Diploma in Chemistry at DUT, which he obtained in 2012.
Prof Mdluli has applauded Mabaso for initiating this project, stating that it has encouraged the open-minded nature of becoming an entrepreneur with the skills that have been developed through learning as a student.
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