Best Man 2009 winner: Hennie Botes

Best Man 2009 winner: CEO moladi Hennie Botes

CATEGORY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WINNER HENNIE BOTES South Africa’s low-cost housing dilemma is in the news nearly every day. Hennie Botes looked at the basic problem, applied some complex technology and thinking and came up with a simple solution: he invented patented box moulds that allow the rapid erection of low-cost, less labour-intensive, quality housing. Now his company, Moladi, is putting roofs over people’s heads in South Africa, Iraq, India and the Sudan.On the entrepreneurial philosophyIf you can solve a problem and sell the solution, you’re going to be successful. It’s a theme from the book Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill) and I really subscribe to that. Sadly, it seems that in South Africa today we don’t do enough to nurture entrepreneurship. The basic schooling curriculum is not encouraging self-development or generating enough self-employed people. The result is a generation thinking that life owes them something.On overcoming obstaclesWhen Bell invented the phone, it wasn’t very successful. People didn’t see the attributes or understand how it might be used in the future and I had similar problems. I was highly motivated and really believed in my idea, but when I presented it to investors, they’d shoot holes in it. I had to overcome these hurdles. It’s been a 22-year journey, but I always kept the goal in mind. Moses spent 40 years in the desert and Noah took years to build the ark, but they both knew what they were doing and why. I’m quite happy my desert experience was only 20-odd years, though.On putting roofs over people’s headsThere’s an American company that wants to build classrooms in Iraq, and they told me we’re the third M: there was a guy who saw a need for a global burger and McDonalds was the result; there was a guy who saw the need for global computer software and Microsoft was born; and there’s a need for housing and Moladi provides a solution. That really motivates me - the fact that we can address the huge housing need while creating employment. Handing over a house is guaranteed goosebumps stuff, every time.On innovationIt’s not just the way you build the wall of a house, but the way you supply the entire product. Our building process has been approved and accepted, so it’s time to look ahead. We’re working on producing windows, doors, toilet seats, window frames, sinks and washbasins. If I can include these as part of my product, I’ll reduce the total unit cost of the house. The more I reduce the overall price, the more houses Moladi will produce. I’d rather build a house a day and sell it for R1 000, than build one house a year and sell it for a million.