Passion Drives Mechanical Engineer
Lindiwe Mozola | Monday April 24, 2017 14:59
Johannes grew around a Shona family who are renowned for their business expertise and acumen. This inspired him to start a business at a tender age of 18 years. However, due to school commitments the business could not be sustained.
“I come from a family of self-employed individuals. My father left school at an early age in order to pursue his business; my mother is also a businessperson with several projects and all my uncles have their businesses. With that background, I believe business is in my DNA,” said Johannes.
The diploma holder in mechanical engineering from the University of Botswana (UB) said although school crippled his business during that time, it did not kill his passion to venture into his own business. He worked for various mining companies to gain more experience in the field of mechanical engineering.
In 2008 he worked as a maintenance artisan at the Jwaneng Mine for four years before joining Morupule Coal Mine (MCM) as a maintenance coordinator from 2012 to 2014. The peak of his career was in 2014 when he was promoted to an asset management coordinator at Morupule Coal Mine up to 2015 when he left to pursue his business.
“With all this experience, I knew then it was time for me to fulfill my calling in business and what could have been better than venture into something that I love, mechanical engineering, and hence I founded Leeroy Contractioners Botswana,” he said.
Leeroy Contractioners Botswana deals with mechanical installations, repairs, modifications and diagnosis as well as supplying of various mechanical equipments. Johannes said some of the big projects he has done are Water Utilities project analysis works in Francistown, Masunga, Tutume and Tamasane.
In addition, he has done some mechanical works for MCM. Johannes said although his business is doing very well considering the fact that they are the only company in Palapye that covers the scope of mechanical engineering unlike other companies that combine it with electrical engineering.
“This is more at an industrial level than to my business in Botswana. There is still lack of skills surrounding the mechanical engineering scope.
The existing businesses only supply mechanical equipments; they do not do the works, therefore it is hard to find qualified mechanical engineers who can do the works.”
He added: ”The attitude of Batswana also cripples the industry because people who are qualified lack the passion and have bad attitude towards work.
We are often faced with employees that will leave in the middle of the contract which delays the production”. He said financial constraints also presemt a problem to him because Government is reluctant to fund those who do the works, but will rather fund the suppliers.
His future plans are to establish a leading and innovative mechanical engineering firm in the country as a one-stop shop that is doing the works as well as supplying the equipment, something he said is rare in the country.
Johannes also has some lucrative businesses on the side, which include the talk-of-the-town Hunters Inn pub.