TWO best friends, who sacrificed it all to start a waste management company, are now starting to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice.
Ofentse Melato (34) and Tshego Molefi (30) both born and bred in a village called Ledig near Rustenburg quit their full-time jobs, one as a journalist and the other as a co-operate administrator to become entrepreneurs.
Five years later, the two women have scooped the Sun City waste management contract with the Nedbank Gold Challenge.
The two met when they were kids and have been friends ever since.
They said in 2018 they decided to register a waste management company called Moli & Mela with the hopes of making a good living, but it was not as easy as they thought.
Ofentse said they weren’t exactly successful with their concept, despite submitting profiles to several shopping centres around Sun City.
She said one day, she received a call from Sun Village in a panic, who told her their waste management service provider had dropped them and they needed a refuse company to urgently assist.
She said at that time, they had no staff, only relied on her father who helped by driving their bakkie and trailer to collect waste.
“We started small and were clueless about how to handle waste, so we started attending workshops to learn about the industry and acquire all the relevant accreditations and certificates to be compliant,” said Ofentse.
At the recent 40th anniversary of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the two women said they got to prove their capabilities by cleaning up waste left behind by more than 59 400 spectators watching the top-level tournament with players from all around the world competing on the internationally famous Gary Player Golf Course.
Tshego said to cope with the 7 805 tons of waste, about a third of which was recycled, they needed another 80 workers as well as extra vehicles and uniforms, and other equipment.
She said the tournament ran over four days.
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“It went very well, and our client, Sun City, was impressed with how we managed the project, as it was our first,” said Tshego.
She said they went up against large companies and it was crazy competing with 45 big companies.
Ofentse said with this project they aim to employ another 300 people.
“We want our company to show that the waste sector can turn rubbish into something that can be used again, which is not an area that many companies develop,” she said.
