Local man makes his own 100% natural charcoal
After years of being an unemployed sound engineer graduate, Given Mgwamba from KaMaqhekeza decided to create employment for himself.
In 2019, he started making charcoal from scratch in his home backyard, and later opened a company called Ndzilo Charcoal Briquettes. The briquettes are available for sale to community members and local businesses.
According to Mgwamba, the business is now growing from strength to strength.
“I am getting support from a lot of people, and one of my biggest highlights is that the charcoal is currently available in the well-known local supermarket, Pick n Pay, in Nkomazi Plaza.” His first attempt to create employment was an online radio station that did not last long, and that is when the charcoal production idea was born.
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“While having a braai, an idea came to me to make my own charcoal. The package of the charcoal is what caught my attention, and I decided to do more thorough research.”
“In my area, we sometimes have to go to the border to buy charcoal. I started researching how to make charcoal and digging for answers to every question I had at that time. That is when I found out that the idea of cutting down trees is not healthy for the environment, and there are better ideas, like using sugar cane and mango leaves,” he said.
Mgwamba then decided to put his findings into practice.
“I started collecting the waste I needed, learned how to carbonise then crushed and dried them. It took time for me to get the process correct, as I had challenges at the beginning, including getting the right machines and having a fit budget for all the equipment I needed,” he explained.
Mgwamba added that he registered his company in 2020 and things seemed to be going in the right direction.
“I registered my business after the first lockdown. I had to work in my home garage to keep going, but now things are working out. I got land that I am going to put into good use. My business is beneficial to the community, because it is environmentally friendly, creates jobs and does not cause deforestation.”
He currently has three staff members
