Soweto-born Thabang Mabapa who uses science to extract oil from castor oil seeds says that his project has the ability to replace fossil fuel and help to save South Africa’s energy crisis.
Mabapa registered his own company, Selokong Sa Dimelana (SSD) which farms castor seeds and processes them to become castor oil and biodiesel.
SSD was founded and secured 1000 hectares of land for castor seed farming. SSD uses marginal land to farm the seeds and sell their biodiesel mainly to farmers. They also sell cold-pressed castor oil, as consumers use it mostly for cosmetic application, which helps us keep our biodiesel business sustainable.