Seeing waste as fertile ground for new beginnings

Lesedi Monnanyane speaks of turning trash into treasure

- By Sunday World reporter

When refuse trucks stopped arriving in Postmasburg's Boichoko community, the sight of burning rubbish piles became routine. But for 11-year-old Lesedi Monnanyane, the smoke signalled more than just pollution; it represented untapped potential.

"There's something fundamentally wrong with us burning all this waste," he said.

"We're destroying value and harming our own health at the same time."

That childhood observation ignited a lifelong pursuit: to transform waste and alien biomass into opportunity, create work, and reimagine how mining-dependent communities can transition from extraction to regeneration.

Monnanyane's entrepreneurial journey began long before he understood the term "sustainability". His first venture was offering to clean neighbours' yards for pocket money. A crucial lesson came from his aunt, who collected bottles for recycling, teaching him that one person's trash could be another's treasure.

By 15, he had officially registered Sky-High Kaila Enterprise, starting with simple waste collection. Using prize money from school science and entrepreneurship fairs, he began bootstrapping his business.