Engineer’s green business gets boost

AN OTHONGATHI (Tongaat) man’s environmental consultancy agency has scooped a sustainability award.

Kevin Munsamy, 35, won the Sustainability Award at the South African Breweries Kickstart Boost awards on Wednesday.

The environmental consultancy agency is rated among the best youthowned businesses in the country, and Munsamy is off to save the world.

Munsamy was awarded R75000 in grant money for his business, KCM Environmental Services.

The entrepreneurship programme is a platform to boost young business owners.

“We do work for industries or organisations that create pollution, such as manufacturers, municipalities or mining companies. We monitor pollution levels, create reports and compare this to South Africa’s environmental standards. We determine whether they’re compliant with this,” he said.

Munsamy together with his late brother, Havern, started the business three years ago.

“I’m a chemical engineer and I had difficulty finding a job. I found some success in the environmental field and my brother encouraged me to run with it. It was difficult at first because everyone thought we were a joke, but my brother kept saying ‘we’re gonna make it, this is gonna be something big’.”

The pair didn’t have much business experience nor funding. While Kevin handled the technical aspect, Havern brought in the sales.

Havern died in a car crash. Everything Munsamy does today is in honour of his younger brother.