Tebogo Bathebeng creates chicken feed for the circular economy

Tebogo Bathebeng is the founder of the Montsho Sustainable Project which harvests Black Soldier fly larvae to produce chicken feed. With a carefree childhood spent in Soweto, she studied Industrial Psychology at the University of Johannesburg after which she worked for one of South Africa’s largest insurance companies. Through the company, she completed a foundational leadership course at Gibbs sparking her interested in entrepreneurship. Her first introduction to entrepreneurship was through her father who worked for an engineering company but who also had small projects, such as farms, going on on the side.

Photo by Ashiq Johnson

Tebogo says that the idea for her project found her, rather than her finding the idea. Thanks to her keen interest in recycling and the circular economy she kept up to date with the latest happenings in the field and came across a social media post by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that covered food waste and strategies for overcoming it, including the use of Black Soldier Flies to reduce food waste. Through research, she discovered that there is an organisation in South Africa active in the field, however, Montsho differentiates itself by focusing on rural communities which are largely marginalised, as well as being in close proximity to the farms that they serve.

The process works by breeding Black Soldier Flies which then lay eggs, some of which are kept for further breeding and the rest are allowed to grow into larvae before being harvested for chicken feed. The Black Soldier Fly larvae are high in protein and essential oils, contributing to the growth and development of the chickens and returning the nutrients that were in waste food back into the food chain rather than into landfills.

Dealing with the unpredictability of nature is one of Tebogo’s main challenges, with the flies and larvae needing a specific temperature range in which they can grow and thrive. Changing weather conditions affect the temperatures and the rate at which the system produces its output, delaying the harvests. She also has to deal with rodents that create holes in the fly cages, disturbing the process further.

Photo by Ashiq Johnson

Tebogo is attracted to social entrepreneurship because it allows her to give more and take less. She is keen to share knowledge, a different way of looking at things and to showcase that there are more sustainable ways of living. She gets great joy and personal fulfillment out of people’s reactions when she shows them how the food they eat can be created in a sustainable manner and that it can positively affect their health as well. She is also excitied by the opportunities for job creation which the project brings.

Currently, Tebogo is working with the University of the North-West in order to determine the effects of her feed in chicken’s health as well as the effect the chicken has on human health. At this point in time, she is supplying chicken-coops on a community level and although she has found that larger farms tend to favour cheaper and faster feed options such as corn, she is hopeful that the results of the studies will allow her to approach medium-sized farms in the North-West province.

Tebogo is hoping to network and engage with other like-minded social entrepreneurs at the Amaphiko Academy. She is also hoping to gain exposure and knowledge on how to create an impact without only focusing on the small area she is currently involved in. She is excited about finding out how the rural areas can be at the forefront of the circular economy and how to use indigenous methods to push this economy forward.

This article first appeared on Red Bull.