Bulelani, whose name means “Gratitude” is a young entrepreneur from Langa who founded Oracle Green, an eco-friendly cleaning company. The company comes to clients’ homes and premises and offers three services: upholstery deep cleaning (carpets, couches, mattresses, car seats…), high-pressure cleaning (roofs, carports, pavings…) and painting.

After leaving a call-centre job where he felt he couldn’t grow, Bulelani started out washing rubbish bins. “People thought I was crazy”, he laughs. But the first six houses on his street grew to 72 households, each paying R100 a month subscription. He then asked those clients what else they wanted cleaned, and he added new services based on their answers.

He trained at the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship in Cape Town, and took part in programmes with the Black Umbrellas Foundation. Prize money from a competition paid for his first equipment. He then finished in the top five of more than 300 entrepreneurs in a Absa/Visa competition, and won R100,000, which he used to buy a bakkie (the South African term for a utility vehicle). He is currently in a 10-month entrepreneurship programme run by the Silulo foundation and Astron Energy, which ends with a pitch.

Bulelani’s key challenges include financial management and record keeping, customer relationship management, expanding his market to reach wealthier suburbs beyond his current low- and middle-income clients, compliance (e.g. SARS registration) and marketing, including updating his website, flyers and social media.

His dream is to grow Oracle Green and end up employing at least 10 to 15 local people, up from the current 4 people.