By Grace Ademulegun
Sinah Mojanko of TiyAmo Recycling in South Africa is a coach to new recycling entrepreneurs and takes the planet’s future seriously.
Sinah envisions a better future in which all people, regardless of background, would be able to feed their families.
Mojanko claims that she first became passionate about entrepreneurship while still in elementary school. For R10 per person, she would plait people’s hair, with the proceeds going towards a few household expenses, she claims.
Subsequently, she opened a small car wash where she charged for weekend car maintenance. She honed her abilities in the corporate world while working in the financial department for small businesses.
While employed at one of the top financial organisations in South Africa, this industrious woman witnessed the devastating repercussions of drug usage, as the unemployed had no hope for a better future.
Tiyamo Recycling was founded after Sinah and her husband, who also dabbled in entrepreneurship, recognised they needed to change the world.
With just four employees in 2019, Tiyamo Recycling became the go-to source for many unskilled and unemployed people in the nation, which now has over seven million people without a steady source of income, by recycling all kinds of plastic waste, including plastic bottles, white paper, cardboard boxes, tins, and scrap metals.
Today, the company is expanding steadily while also meeting the needs of numerous families without other sources of income and maintaining a clean environment.
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In addition, Mojanko creates training programs and supports other recyclers since she thinks the industry is sustainable and profitable.
She finds it noteworthy that numerous young Nyaope drug addicts were hired after they successfully changed their ways and quit using drugs. “The majority of them even returned and were reunited with their families,” Mojanko said.
In an interview with the “Lioness of Africa,” she stated that the company purchases its recyclables from mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters who are constantly on the streets, rain or shine, gathering the recyclables we simply throw everywhere and preserving the cleanliness of our surroundings.
This allows them to meet their family’s needs and put food on their tables.
“We also purchase our stock from the municipal dumping sites, where many skilled and unskilled labourers who were laid off turned to because they were unable to find work, causing them to experience financial hardship. We also gather from various businesses, schools, and shopping centers/malls.” She said.
Most individuals from all walks of life, including skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labourers, now have jobs thanks to Mojanko’s enterprise, which has helped to alleviate the problem of unemployment.
Sinah clarified that one of her future goals, as Tiyamo Recycling expands, is to buy her recycling facility, which would serve as a drop-off location for collectors of all sizes. The proposal also calls for exporting to other nations and providing bails to large recycling groups.
Mojanko still prioritises training, which is one of the reasons she wants to construct a recycling facility where she can train, mentor, and coach aspiring recycling business owners.
She believes that no matter how challenging a job is, it is always soul-satisfying to be able to look back on it with a smile and say, “I did it.” This is what she finds most satisfying.
Her main recommendation to other female entrepreneurs is to never rely on startup capital. If you have a concept, write it down, concentrate, take action, carry it out, and start small. She advises, “You’re good to go if you follow industries that are similar to your idea and get inspiration from start-up stories shared.”
