The 60-Year-Old Industrialist

Michael Manaka was inspired to become an entrepreneur after a dream. Despite his age, he vows to continue building his machines, and his business.

- Permla Ramakobya

Michael Manaka is a self-made artisan building oil purifying plants from his home garage in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg. He is mature, to say the least. In 2010, when his peers were heading for retirement, the 60-yearold founded Machoroma Oil Specialists following an epiphany in his sleep. He vows to work until his last breath.

“I had a dream visiting my boss Edward Michael Povazan on his farm in Drakensburg. He told me: ‘I have a garden full of grapes. You can have the seeds and make your own garden at home. You will enjoy them with your wife and children’. This is a man who taught me everything, from designing and building machines. I knew the dream wasn’t about grapes but was opening my eyes about starting on my own,” says Manaka.

It all started in 1982, when Manaka, at the age of 25, was working at a company in Johannesburg called Fluidex Engineering. In those days, during apartheid, Manaka was denied opportunities because he was black. Povazan, an engineer from the Czech Republic, taught him everything he knows, including how to build oil purifying machines.

“In 1986, I was sent to Olifantsfontein Trade Test Centre to get a qualification as a machine designer and fitter, and I was the only black man being tested that week. My white counterparts told me I won’t make it. Indeed, I was the only one who failed,” says Manaka.

Despite not getting a qualification, Manaka worked even harder for success. It paid off; he was promoted to chief designer until the company was bought by Remex Engineering in 2007.

The new owner promised Manaka shares after he spent two years recruiting and training others. One of his recruits was his nephew Johannes Manaka, who still works with him.