Entrepreneur Sizwe Mavuso wants to help eradicate water shortages

Social entrepreneur Sizwe Mavuso is adamant that he will help change the lives of many people who experience constant water shortages in their communities through his water harvesting company.

Mavuso is one of the entrepreneurs who are being assisted by the Barloword Seed programme called Mbewu. This innovative flagship programme is designed to provide tailored support for start-up social enterprises, established social businesses, organisations, and institutions that actively solve local challenges using good business practices.

Talking to the North Eastern Tribune, Mavuso, who has been an entrepreneur for about a decade, said he always wanted to help communities through a sustainable way. He recalled that with his background in architecture and design, he worked for four years as a developer in Sandton and then chose to open his own architectural company.

Through his company, he managed to secure jobs working in the retail and commercial space for big insurance companies. At the time he was maintaining buildings. “I started that business, got some clients doing architectural work and it was very good,” he said.

It was in 2014 when he secured an opportunity that would change his life and change the course of how he conducted his business. “We were working in Hammanskraal doing renovations at a local school but unfortunately we didn’t have water and that affected our timeline.”

Mavuso had to secure a tank and filled it with water so that the project could continue without disruptions. It turned out that due to water shortages, the school and community members started using the water for their households. This was when the idea of compact 25-litre containers designed to interlock to create a water tank was born. “I said to myself, why is it that there is rain but unfortunately people are not harvesting water.

“It is a 25-litre tank, put it together like a Lego puzzle and you can make a compound tank.”

His company now supplies these tanks to harvest rainwater and systems to treat and store greywater for use. When he developed the idea, he pitched it to the SAB Kick start and won a prize. He then developed the product in Johannesburg and Innovation Hub got involved and supported him together with the Tshwane municipality. “They funded me, paid for my legal fees and paid for business advice.”

He said as much as a business needs to generate income, it is also important for a business to have a social element. “So this technology can drop down the price of water quite significantly, but on a social level, if somebody sponsored 1 000 homes, we do the installation, a portion of that money will go to the installation of tanks.

“We will employ members of the communities where we are installing those tanks.”

He said the portion of the budget could also go to training and skills development. “When you install those water tanks, they have to be maintained, somebody has to be trained on how to install them.”

Mavuso concluded that the social way of doing business is by far the most sustainable.

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https://northeasterntribune.co.za/234164/avon-empowers-budding-entrepreneurs/