From selling meat at a chisanyama in the rural village of Grootpan in Ga-Kibi, Limpopo, to leading a green business empire, Modjadji Ratshilavhi is proof that hustle with a vision can transform communities. Through Avo Vision’s Green Business Value Chain programme she turns encroaching plants into value-added products such as charcoal, organic charcoal soap bars, pot cleaners, organic compost, firelighters and sawdust for chicken farmers for bedding and feeding.
Her dream? A Limpopo-based factory supplying supermarkets nationwide. “I won’t sleep until I see my own factory, creating more jobs for my community.”
Having only started in September 2023, her company, Maseakwa Lounge and Grilling, now earns up to R60,000 a month, employing 13 local villagers, six women and seven men, all previously unemployed. Her ability to expand partnerships and open new markets has led her to procure charcoal from her peers in Ga-Kibi, Limpopo, setting herself as the local market for other charcoal producers.
“I make sure nothing goes to waste. Everything must bring in money to keep my company alive,” she says, highlighting the importance of maximizing value creation and building in efficiencies for business sustainability.
With every bag and bar, Modjadji restores the land through sustainably thinning encroaching plant species (sekelbos), grows the economy through product creation and job creation, and proves that determination and commitment to the environment and people can turn weeds into gold.
Modjadji is part of 22 entrepreneurs in Ga-Kibi who have been incubated in Avo Vision’s Green Business Value Chain (GBVC) initiative, a leading force in sustainable green entrepreneurship, rural job creation and curbing of rural-urban migration in South Africa.
