Lim company a contender for top business award

LIMPOPO – Her company, Montana General Trading, specialises in waste management and recycling, and she recently started manufacturing aluminium potjie pots. For Caroline, reaching the final stage of this prestigious competition comes as affirmation that she must be doing something right.
Before Caroline’s business got off the ground, she trained local women in professional catering and general hygiene. “I realised I could expand my business into waste management and recycling as it would require little capital to start,” she explains.
In 2011, she approached local government and company offices in her area, offering her services to collect waste material such as glass bottles, plastic, paper and cardboard for recycling.  Her requests were met favourably and her company now collects waste and recyclable materials at malls, schools and dumping sites.
Some of the business in the city that support her venture include Petco and Plastico, Consol and Prasa. Not being one to settle, Caroline recently added another key element to her business.
While walking around in a Johannesburg shopping mall, she met Jabulani Rikhotso, a beggar who has the distinct skill of making something beautiful out discarded materials.
Their chance encounter resulted in the start of a profitable partnership and they now manufacture aluminium potjie pots, using aluminium scrap from cold drink cans, body spray cans and vehicle parts.
They sell their three-legged pots and saucepans to schools and nutrition programme organisers and also rent them to individuals for social events. In the last 12 months, Caroline’s company has more than doubled the number of its employees from 10 to 21. For Jabulani, meeting Caroline has turned his life around, – he went from begging for money to head manufacturer at Montana General Trading. He says he is happy to be able to earn enough money to provide for his family.
The pots are environmentally friendly as there are no chemicals used in producing them. Since starting her business in 2011, Caroline has been helping people around her with the profits she has been making. She has built houses for two destitute families and has established a feeding scheme for the needy in her community.
“I know I can neither change everything nor help everyone, but I am doing my bit in a small way to bring happiness to people,” she explains.
Her efforts are not going unnoticed as not only her community can attest to, but even competitions like the Eskom Business Investment Competition recognise her hard work and business acumen. She wants to build her company to become the biggest in waste management and recycling in Limpopo.
Caroline has since been appointed as the secretary for all recyclers in Makhado by the municipality.
According to Eskom, winners of the 2016 edition of the Business Investment Competition will still be announced.
Caroline said it was an honour to have reached the finals, and she hoped it would motivate other entrepreneurs.
The competition recognises and rewards small businesses that make a contribution to local economic growth, sustainability and the transfer of skills and job creation. It is open to local, black-owned and registered enterprises that have been operating for more than 24 months in the manufacturing, engineering or construction, trade or services, agricultural and agri-processing sectors.
endy@nmgroup.co.za