SA entrepreneurs produce diesel from tobacco, castor oil

Two entrepreneurs have found a way to decrease over-reliance on fossil fuel by producing biodiesel using castor oil and tobacco.

For KwaZulu-Natal-bred Zinhle Ngidi, it all started in her childhood when she was exposed to various environments, including life in a city, township and village. Although she lived in Durban, she looked forward to her time in the rural part of Nkandla, where her family originally come from.

“As a child, I just loved agriculture,” she said. “I loved growing things and experimenting.” After years in business and sales, including finance, she stumbled upon tobacco.

“In 2016, when I was about 27, I tried to grow a moringa tree and after failing badly, I found out about a seed from Italy that had no nicotine that could make fuel. I was so intrigued, I started making random contact with the noncommercial international company that came to South Africa to test it in collaboration with Boeing and South African Airlines for research purposes.”

After observing how they used the solaris tobacco plant to produce biodiesel, she partnered with them in 2017 , taking their operation from their testing grounds in Limpopo to KwaZulu-Natal. After six months of growing the seed and producing her own biodiesel, she started looking at commercialising the product through the help of Red Bull Amaphiko Academy, an organisation that provides support and mentorship to potential social entrepreneurs. She now owns two plots of land and is teaching communities how to grow the tobacco seed.

“I feel like I have finally found my purpose,” she said.

Soweto-born-and-bred Thabang Mabapa’s discovery of castor oil fuel was “an accident”. “My dream was to become a professional soccer player. I played for Witwatersrand Football Club and Jomo Cosmos junior league. I studied [public relations] and communications at the University of Johannesburg, but that was only a back-up plan for me,” said Mabapa.

A friend gave him a castor seed and he discovered it contained oil.

“I wanted to see what that oil looked like but didn’t know how to extract it. So I looked for a mentor and was introduced to a professor at Witwatersrand University.”

He started learning about the oil and the various things he could make out of the seed. After spending a good part of 2012 learning and producing biodiesel with his mentor, he decided to commercialise his passion and was also chosen to be part of the Red Bull Amaphiko Academy mentorship programme.

He now owns two farms and produces not only biodiesel, but products like biopaint. Both Ngidi and Mabapa have secured clients and hope their success encourages fellow rural businesspeople to follow suit and help grow their local economies.

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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