Mmapula turns science into an agri business

In just two months of active existence, MPH won the Top Agricultural Youth-Owned Brand Award 2022 at the Top16 Youth-Owned Brands Inaugural in Sandton on June 15. She is an alumna of Rainbow Primary and Unity Primary School in Tzaneen.  She attended Hoërskool Ben Vorster where she matriculated in 2013. She holds a BSc in Molecular and Life Science, and a BSc Honours in Biochemistry, both from the University of Limpopo. She is currently pursuing an MSc in Genetics at Stellenbosch University.

“I was always a curious child who questioned everything that happened around me. I wanted to know why flowers are bright and why trees bear fruit in different seasons. At school, I fell in love with Natural Science. Finally, my curious mind got answers to some of my questions. I knew that I would want to pursue a career in science,” said Mmapula. Science forms a basis for our very existence, Mmapula told the Herald. “Being able to be part of a world that discovers the unknown and makes sense of the world, inspires me.

I want to deploy science to solve day-to-day problems in our communities, by creating an innovative research platform where scientists will be given the opportunity to use their scientific knowledge and apply it to produce products and services that communities can benefit from.” This aspiration birthed the company that she founded in 2019. “MPH is a bioeconomic environmentally conscious company that aims to close the gap between scientific knowledge and its application,” Mmapula said.

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“We offer agricultural consultancy sustainable farming), phytoremediation and waste management projects services as well as biogas digesters installation,” she said. “It feels great to be a young scientist in South Africa, especially looking back to the history of our country and the cultural connotation of being an African woman, where there is a societal expectation of the kind of career you should take up or build for yourself as opposed to your male counterparts.”

Mmapula said she always wanted to do something different. “So, being able to actualise that dream of being different and tapping into new territory makes me a proud South African woman,” she said excitedly. “For me it means leadership. It means guidance and direction for the younger generation. It feels like breaking limitations placed by the society and also in our minds as African women,” she said.

She wishes for her community, the youth, and South Africa as a whole to be able to pursue their passion and be able to make a name for themselves. “It is a personal responsibility for one to be able to identify themselves outside societal definitions. This requires one to make conscious efforts to learn, unlearn, and relearn ever-changing life.”

“What seemed relevant a few years ago might be irrelevant in our present society. Young people need to start venturing into spheres of problem-solving careers and to use their potential to influence the world around them,” the young scientist concluded.