Sawubona Mycelium Is A Start-Up Aimed At Harnessing The Power Of Biology To Practice Sustainable Manufacturing
Sawubona Mycelium Is A Start-Up Aimed At Harnessing The Power Of Biology To Practice Sustainable Manufacturing. Sawubona Mycelium is a Biotechnology company based in Centurion. It was established in 2018, combining the age old process of fermentation with advances in biotechnology, to produce bio-based ingredients from nature, to enable sustainable manufacturing of cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, food and bio-materials.
The company was co-founded by Neo Moloi, whose experience started in corporate working for one of the major brewers in the country. He worked as a Yeast & Hygiene Controller amongst other positions. His experience in Lean Manufacturing will be applied in Process Optimisation at Sawubona Mycelium. Neo is passionate about Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the intellectual property that comes with that, having completed a course in Entrepreneurship and also IP Management. “Sawubona Mycelium is concerned about the current unsustainable means of production and we looking to harness the power of Biology and Fermentation to re-imagine and re-work how we manufacture in a more sustainable way” said Neo on the company’s website.
The startup was also co-founded by Busi Moloi who also started in corporate before going into entrepreneurship having worked as a Production Manager in one of the big brewers in the countries. She brings extensive experience and knowledge in Fermentation technology having qualified as a Master Brewer. Her background in Genetics is also useful for the kind of work being done at Sawubona Mycelium. Busi’s business studies complements well the scientific nature of work at Sawubona Mycelium.
Sawubona Mycelium produces mushroom beta-glucan as a polymer that can be used in cosmetics formulation and pharmaceutical productions. Mushroom beta-glucan produced by Sawubona Mycelium from Pleurotus ostreatus and Schizophyllum commune have been demonstrated to have high water absorption capability and can penerate the skin, removing fine wrinkles giving the skin the anti-aging effect. The intense hydration effect of beta-glucans found in its Schizophyllum Fermentation Filtrate has been demonstrated to have superior hydration than hyaluronic acid.
