The mastermind of BT Industrial Group and the creative force behind the inventive uses of heavy-duty plastic pipes is South African businessman Kgomotso Lekola.
His big idea struck four years ago when he sold the last of his shares in Africa Weather, a Johannesburg-based company he received loan money to invest in in 2013. Africa Weather provides advanced forecasts to clients, including mining and agricultural firms. During his stay there, the business expanded its activities throughout Africa and Australia.
Lekola gained knowledge of the mining business, one of his company’s primary target industries, through his experience and association with Africa Weather.
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He recognized a market niche in offering engineering consultancy services to mines. Soon, his business, BT Industrial, became involved in water management projects for mines, which is an important component of the industry since water must be pumped out of mines and used for certain processing processes.
However, the entrepreneur ran into problems with suppliers of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic pipes, which are required for water conveyance in mining. Pipe quality and distributor professionalism were some of the problems.
He told How We Made It In Africa that when his team members originally suggested the concept of BT Industrial manufacturing its own HDPE pipes, he said, “No, you’re mad,” adding, “But then they persuaded me.”
So, he and the head of engineering flew to China to see different pipe manufacturing machine providers, and after choosing the best partners, they bought the equipment and established a small facility on the outskirts of Johannesburg, which was partially funded by bank loans.
He narrated the challenges that arose, stating, “We were told that it was going to take three months to get the certification that we needed. We believed it. It ended up taking almost a year. We had anticipated buying the machine, setting up, then waiting three months before being certified so that we could go into the general market and grow the business. That’s not what happened. We had an almost 12-month delay, meaning that we were burning money every month with no ability to sell. Those were proper nightmare times.”
Nevertheless, the business was able to separate itself from its rivals by offering clients advice on more economical system designs, which ultimately resulted in cost savings for the clients. As a result, BT Industrial is now a supplier of pipes to various industries, including construction, bulk water infrastructure, and agriculture.
Taking advantage of COVID-19, his company expanded into the manufacturing of medical products.
“During the Covid lockdowns, we couldn’t run our factory, we couldn’t produce pipes,” he said, adding that he and his team began to manufacture protective masks.
Their knowledge of working with plastics helped them to find out how to make the masks after they discovered that a crucial part of masks was created from polypropylene, a form of plastic, using an extrusion method.
As time went on, BT Industrial turned this experience into a learning opportunity and created a line of pre-fill syringes which it currently supplies to South African hospitals along with wound-closure solutions that are intended to treat complicated wounds, minimize complications, and reduce scarring while the wound heals.
The enterprising CEO claims he sees potential in the company’s expansion and recognition across the continent, though the majority of his items are sold only in South Africa.
In the meantime, BT Industrial has opened offices in Lusaka, Zambia, and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), expanding its mining operations outside of South Africa.
He noted, “Zambia and the DRC in particular are very interesting because of the types of minerals they have. They have copper, lithium, cobalt, and the other rare-earth minerals that are all required to support the global energy transition. There’s an incredible amount of investment going into mining in those areas … And where there is big mining investment, there’s going to be a need for pipes and all the other things that we provide.”
