By Neo Kolane
Charcoal is an essential source of domestic fuel in many sub-Saharan African countries. Overall, the region produces 65 percent of the world’s charcoal, with Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana being the top three producers.
Charcoal can be created by burning/smelting wood as the main ingredient in a furnace. Producing charcoal involves burning wood under anaerobic conditions, when too much oxygen is supplied, the wood turns into ash.
According to research, demand for charcoal is rising. This has led to governments attempting to formalize the sector. One such step has involved enabling investments from large-scale companies.
Founded by the Lengoasa family, Libeso Charcoal Production and Distribution is one business that aims to become the leading company in this line of business.
In a quest to contribute to the economy of the country but careful not to harm the environment, the family of four registered a company known as Libeso Charcoal
Libeso Charcoal Production and Distribution is a family business founded by two Lengoasa brothers and their spouses, and it is based in Maseru, Ha-Seoli.
The business idea came to mind in December 2019 and operations started in February 2020. The family business was conceived when of the women finished school and the other had just lost her job; their spouses encouraged them to do something and not depend on government alone.
The managing director of Libeso Charcoal, Mampheleng Lengoasa, says one of the challenges they faced when they came up with this idea was lack of capital to purchase the furnace; they had to sell some assets and get loans in order to get the furnace. Another challenge was the logistics of getting it in the country.
Lengoasa told theReporter this week that their product is charcoal made from wood, which is carbonized and packaged into 5kg bags.
“The carbonization furnace is smokeless. It does not burn the wood but only removes moisture from the wood, so the environment is not affected. The charcoal is made of hardwood that is carbonized at high temperature using a carbonization furnace. Basically, what we do is we take wood and put the furnace and it does the magic.
“Amid the anxiety and high emotion that came with the Covid-19 pandemic and the self-isolation in 2020, we have had trying times, such that the business would sometimes struggle to pay employees.
“This was the time we did not make enough sales. We had challenges with our supplier of raw material (wood) especially during the COVID-19 as borders were closed. In the mist of the pandemic, we lost some employees who would just quit because they did not see the point of carrying on, and at times they could see that we were also getting frustrated. But we have had one employee who has been with us from day one as he sees the bigger picture and believes in Libeso.
