KEMISO MOTHOLO

Youth in Business and Entrepreneurship

Nominee's Province:
Free State

Age:
29

Project Name/Description:
KemiChem

More info:

Kemiso Motholo, the owner of KemiChem, holds a chemical engineering diploma from the University of Johannesburg. Hailing from Qwa-Qwa in the Free State, Motholo started the business after realising there was a huge gap in providing quality cleaning and hygienic solutions to the locals in his area. “My passion for entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and innovation is what drove me,” he shares. KemiChem manufactures cleaning and hygiene chemicals. It also provides cleaning and hygienic solutions such as fumigation, disinfection and deep cleaning. The business currently employs four people full-time and one person on a part-time basis. According to Motholo, they supply their products to schools, creches, local colleges, hospitals and resellers. In 2022, Motholo was named one of the Free State Premier's Top 50 Most Inspirational Youth, an honour given to young people from the Free State making their mark in their own fields. He was also awarded the SAB Foundation Tholoana Programme Gold Star and SEDA Thabo Mofutsanyana Youth Enterprise Coaching Programme’s Most Outstanding Entrepreneur as well as Best Business. Motholo believes that removing red tape and investing in small businesses through financial and non-financial means is what will defeat unemployment. “We also need to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in young people at an early age. We need more job creators than seekers.”