GUGU LOURIE

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This week, I found myself scrolling through old movies and came across The Pursuit of Happyness, a 2006 film starring Will Smith, his son Jaden and Thandiwe Newton.

Overcome with acute nostalgia, I watched it again, and the father-and-son conversation still struck a chord.

Chris Gardner (Will Smith) says: “Don’t ever let somebody tell you ... You can’t do something. Not even me. All right?

“You got a dream ... You gotta protect it.

“People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.”

In the movie, Gardner, a homeless dad, fights “like hell” to become a stockbroker.

In real life, the determination to succeed against all odds depicted in The Pursuit of Happyness seems to have been replicated by Hleziphi Siyothula-Mtshizane.

She’s the owner and CEO of the aptly named start-up In Pursuit Renewable Energy, founded in 2017. In pursuit of success, her company gets support from the Gauteng Growth Development Agency, the JSE, the UK-South Africa Tech Hub and Orange Corners, a Dutch initiative.

Her company, a pan-African energy services business, has already participated in major energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects for big names such as Absa, Nedbank, the Industrial Development Corp and South African Breweries.

Households and businesses in these far-flung areas are in dire need of affordable power and In Pursuit Renewable Energy is filling the gap with robust, easy-to-install solar solutions.
— Siyothula-Mtshizane

In Pursuit Renewable Energy’s clients number more than 80 households and business sites across the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the North West. These include brick manufacturers, sewing academies, fish and poultry farms, student lodges and guesthouses.

Her company was also involved in implementation of the R6.5m 115MW Umoyilanga solar plant in Avondale, Northern Cape, and a R120m City Power 5MW gas-to-energy hybrid project. These are huge projects for such a young company.

Siyothula-Mtshizane’s company also has a presence in Uganda, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Angola.

Like Will Smith’s character in The Pursuit of Happyness, the CEO of In Pursuit Renewable Energy has big dreams. Born in Umlazi township in Durban, Siyothula-Mtshizane says she is determined to democratise renewable energy for ordinary homes and small businesses.

Rural and peri-urban communities in South Africa experience unreliable power supplies owing to ageing infrastructure. Some areas do not have electricity at all — the grid just doesn’t reach them. Not to mention load reduction and exorbitant electricity prices.

Households and businesses in these far-flung areas are in dire need of affordable power and In Pursuit Renewable Energy is filling the gap with robust, easy-to-install solar solutions. Her company offers customisable home packages, including lighting, charging and backing up critical appliances powered by portable kits.

Peri-urban and rural communities need to build energy resilience now on their own terms to protect themselves against the effects of energy poverty
— Hleziphi Siyothula-Mtshizane

People know about the technology and like it, Siyothula-Mtshizane said, but: “The challenge was always affordability for peri-urban and rural communities.”

In Pursuit Retail Solutions offers outright purchase of its systems from R1,799 or an instalment option of R99 a month for up to 36 months. “The customer owns the system after paying off instalments.”

The solar panels come with a warranty of up to 25 years, and young people are being employed as sales agents. The company launched its retail offering in March, and had recruited 16 sales agents in Johannesburg by May. These agents have already signed up customers in Alexandra, Tembisa and Soweto.

The potential market? More than 3-million households in peri-urban and rural areas. If one in four of these bought a mid-size system, annual revenue would approach R10bn.

“Peri-urban and rural communities need to build energy resilience now on their own terms to protect themselves against the effects of energy poverty, such as slowing down economic activity,” said Siyothula-Mtshizane. “Sustainable energy resilience paired with youth empowerment [is] the In Pursuit retail approach.”

Hopefully Siyothula-Mtshizane’s company will keep growing, employing more young people and inspiring a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. Maybe one day we’ll see young innovators taking their companies to the JSE or A2X.

Like Smith’s character tells his son: “Don’t ever let somebody tell you ... You can’t do something. Not even me.”