“ In the belly of the beast ”
BUSINESS AND TRAINING 17
By
Eamonn Ryan
Industrial solutions provider BT Industrial , with Kgomotso Lekola as founder and managing director , last year received a prestigious CEO Circle Entrepreneurs 2019 Award . Plumbing Africa paid the start-up HDPE SABS-approved pipe manufacturing factory in Germiston , which opened 18 months ago .
About R130-billion has been allocated by the government to deal with infrastructure backlogs , and a large chunk of this will go to water infrastructure , and particularly piping . This is the background to the opportunity Lekola saw .
“ We take high density polyethylene resin and through an extrusion process manufacture pipes , from 50mm plumbing reticulation pipes through to 630mm civils pipes to move water from a reservoir to a housing development . We convey not just potable water but dispose of industrial waste , including mines and Eskom power stations . “ We ’ re in the belly of the beast when it comes to driving urbanisation ,” says Lekola . When questioned as to why the focus on HDPE pipes , Lekola explains that “ pipes are a fundamental driver of industrialisation ”.
The company has made a significant investment in its stateof-the-art HDPE pipe manufacturing facility in Roodekop , Germiston , where it has embraced the latest technology in order to guarantee high-quality products .
Muscling in on a competitive market through technical competence “ We ( with Farai Chamisa , head of engineering ) come from an engineering background and recognised the need for a topquality manufacturer of HDPE pipes . The manufacturing and engineering industries are still largely untransformed – with BT Industrial being the only 100 % black-owned and managed company of its nature in the country .
All photos by Eamonn Ryan
BT Industrial ’ s Kgomotso Lekola , founder and managing director , with Farai Chamisa , head of engineering .
“ To this end , we built this business completely from the ground up . We ’ re people wanting to make a contribution to the re-industrialisation of the country . What sets us apart from everybody else is the quality of our product . We have significant technical integrity in what we do : we are ISO 9001 , SABS SANS 4427 and SAPPMA approved . In addition to these industry companies such as Sasol and WBHO , who have found us to be technically competent , have audited accreditations BT .
From the outset the company invested in an in-house developed cloud-based ERP ( Enterprise Resource Planning )
All BT Industrial piping products are SABS approved .
November 2020 Volume 26 I Number 09 www . plumbingafrica . co . za