From waste to worth: Young entrepreneur from Postmasburg is making a big impact

Lesedi Monnanyane's passion for transforming waste into opportunity was sparked at the age of 11, when refuse trucks stopped arriving in his community of Postmasburg's Boichoko. Instead of burning rubbish like many others, Lesedi saw potential in the waste.

"There's something fundamentally wrong with us burning all this waste," he recalls. "We're destroying value and harming our own health at the same time."

This moment sparked a lifelong pursuit for Lesedi: turning waste and alien biomass into opportunity, creating work, restoring ecosystems, and reimagining how communities can transition from extraction to regeneration. "What keeps me awake at night," he says, "is how we experiment, innovate, and build entrepreneurship amid our wicked problems and our deep dependence on extractive mining and fossil fuels."

Lesedi's entrepreneurial journey began with simple waste collection, which he started at the age of 11. He would clean neighbours' yards for pocket money and learned from his aunt that waste could hold worth. By 15, he had officially registered Sky-High Kaila Enterprise.

Everything changed when Lesedi discovered Anglo American's Zimele Hub in Postmasburg. "I walked in out of curiosity and stayed," he laughs. Through Zimele's enterprise-development programme, he gained mentorship, business training, and eventually a R1.3-million loan to expand his operations.

With that support, Sky High expanded its workforce and invested in a chemical mixer equipment and a rapid composting system machine. Within three years, Lesedi had fully repaid the loan, proving that investing in young entrepreneurs from rural and township communities is an opportunity, not a risk.

Today, Lesedi's work extends beyond entrepreneurship. He is developing modular bioenergy hubs frameworks that convert alien invasive biomass, organic waste, and hemp into different products. These hubs aim to produce clean energy, restore soils, save water, and generate environmental credits.

"Lesedi represents the transformative power of combining entrepreneurial drive with structured support," says Larisha Naidoo, Head of Anglo American Zimele. "He shows how innovation, when nurtured in the right ecosystem, can turn community challenges into sustainable livelihoods."

Lesedi's work has earned international recognition, including being named among The Earthshot Prize's Top 100 Young Climate Leaders in Africa and being shortlisted as a 2025 Earthshot Prize Nominee.

"I see myself as a pracademic, someone who learns by doing and tests ideas in real contexts," he says. "Failure motivates me. I fail fast, learn deeply, and build back better each time."

For young entrepreneurs, Lesedi's advice is simple: "Just start. You don't have to have it all figured out. Clarity comes through action. Every step teaches you something new." He adds, "Document your impact. Track your journey. Data is how you prove your value. Data turns effort into evidence and evidence into trust and partnerships."