‘I had no experience but I had a dream’
Unit 7 Logistics founder plans to expand outside SA
Inspired by his late truck driver father, Essau Mmotlana, who passed on in 2003, Sammy de Mateo Mmotlana took it upon himself to continue his legacy.
The 42-year-old businessman, who was born in Ga-pila village in Mokopane, Limpopo, started Unit 7 Logistics and Projects in 2018.
And there is a story behind the name of the company that carts platinum concentrate. Mmotlana says when he was growing up, his father’s pager would normally go off with the person on the other side saying “Unit 7, control, come in”, he knew that it was the cue for his father to leave for work.
Mmotlana, who is a former sales consultant at Outsurance, says he worked in the insurance industry from 2011 to 2016. He then resigned after he was inspired by the success of his former boss, Willem Roos, who was CEO then.
“Having to experience hardships while growing up, I believed that one day I would rise to be a force to be reckoned with.
“I struggled to make ends meet as I was the only person working at home, fending for
Mmotlana was inspired by his father and his former boss, Willem Roos
my mother and my four siblings, and at times the salary I earned would get finished before covering all the necessities for my family.
“At one of our holiday celebrations, my former boss said that he was proud of the work we are doing at the company, and he wished that we could also have our own vision and explore our own business dreams.”
The words of Roos, now the co-founder of the Rain network, inspired him to believe in his dreams, and he took it upon himself to hustle for success.
“I resigned from my job and registered a logistics company without any capital to start a business, and I also had no experience in logistics, but I gave it a try.
“This was when I started looking for someone I could partner with and I came across Evelyn Maphoto, who had two trucks.
“We became partners in business and started looking for work. Through hard work, we got a contract at Mogalakwena mine under Anglo American to transport platinum concentrate. This is when things started to look up and dreams started to become a reality,” he said.
The company has since grown in leaps and bounds to the point where the business has managed to acquire six more trucks. It also employs 28 people.
Things started looking up after he joined the Zimele Enterprise Development programme in 2018.
“I am really proud of the success of the business and the support that I get from Evelyn and the whole team at Unit 7 to take this company forward.
“We plan to build a massive logistics company that will cover the rest of the country and beyond our borders.
“I am glad that the people I surrounded myself with motivated me to push forward, and look where we are now.”