who is professor mulalo doyoyo? With a kick of frustration, Professor Mulalo Doyoyo (49) sent a bucket containing a chemical concoction flying. It was a mixture he made to solidify coal dust for reuse. Professor Mulalo Doyoyo, an accomplished innovator and Ivy League-educated engineer, was ready to establish a firm that would produce brick-making machines – but his plans came to naught. Doyoyo intended to produce 100 black entrepreneurs in townships to end the mainstream white companies’ dominance in the brick-making industry. He was allegedly turned down on the grounds that he had to compete for his original idea with the Chinese. At a meeting with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in 2017, the acclaimed engineer said Mathopane Masha, the director of inclusive economy at Gauteng’s economic development department, told him that “the Chinese are black”. He took this to mean the Chinese would also be considered for the project. the Chinese are black Doyoyo believes it is this kind of attitude that hampers the birth of new black-owned industries or the expansion of existing ones, which would create much-needed jobs in the country. He said it was made worse by financial institutions that wanted the owner to contribute, which most black people could not do because they didn’t have the money. Doyoyo is an inventor who, among his many innovations, created the cement-less concrete called Cenocell, which is produced in the US and has been patented worldwide. He invented Cenocell while he was based at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US as an engineering professor. Cenocell cement is made from fly ash – a by-product of coal combustion in coal-fired power plants, cement production, paper manufacturing and mining operations. Locally, he has invented an ecofriendly paint called Amoriguard, which is made from mining and industry waste. He studied and lectured in some of the world’s leading institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – one of eight Ivy League tertiary institutions considered to be the best in the world – for more than 20 years before returning home in 2012. “I was told that the Chinese are black by officials in the Gauteng economic development department,” Doyoyo said, “and the take-off agreement with the department was not signed.” Doyoyo’s invention – the Ecocast brick machine – uses less water and energy to produce quality bricks. He said everything was on track – the IDC had approved R27 million in funding – until the department’s officials had to sign a take-off agreement for the project, which would act as surety that the IDC would get its money back. But the department had signed a memorandum of understanding with Doyoyo’s company, Ecocast. “The officials at the IDC offices told me that the Chinese can also make machines. I had an investor at the meeting who was ready to put down an owner’s contribution. Instead, he witnessed me being told that the Chinese are black,” Doyoyo said. If I go to China today, will they call me Chinese? The dream to create a large-scale black brick-making industry evaporated at that meeting. Doyoyo was going to assist the entrepreneurs with certification from the SA Bureau of Standards so that they could land sizeable contracts with municipalities and private companies. “If I go to China today, will they call me Chinese?” Doyoyo asked. He said the department had initially approached him to help with this project. But he’s now had to close down his Ecocast brick machine plant. Masha did not respond to written questions sent to him via text and WhatsApp. Nombulelo Nyathela, the spokesperson for the Gauteng economic development department, denied that there was an agreement between her department and Ecocast, but City Press has seen the memorandum signed by both parties. It is valid from November 1 last year to October 31 this year. “There was never a formal agreement between the department and Ecocast or any company in the country. The proposed agreement was with one of the agencies [Gauteng Enterprise Propeller] and, upon assessment, it did not find the proposal viable,” Nyathela said. She said the department supported the project, but the decision regarding funding “lay elsewhere”. “Masha denies making any reference to a Chinese company or that the Chinese are black,” she said. City Press has, however, seen the loan agreement signed between the IDC and Doyoyo, which indicates that the plan to get the project off the ground was as good as done. TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION BLUEPRINT FOR SA In 2007, Doyoyo produced a document outlining how to establish a resource-driven technology concept centre that would stimulate and support innovation in the country. The spin-off from this centre, he said, was that it would reduce poverty by creating new firms and strengthening existing ones to create more jobs – the same idea of establishing the plant that manufactures the Ecocast machines. In his document, Doyoyo envisioned a centre that would bring together innovators, local and international academic institutions and government to create and sustain a vibrant culture of cutting-edge research and innovation. Mulalo Doyoyo FRSA was a South African engineer, inventor, and professor. Doyoyo is a researcher in applied mechanics, ultralight materials, green building, renewable energy, and other fields of engineering. Born: 13 August 1970 (age 53 years), Venda Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, University of Cape Town, Mbilwi Secondary School Known for: Applied mechanics; Ultralight materials; Green building; Renewable energy; Ballistics As the liquid spilt in all directions, the Venda-born and US-educated engineer, inventor and academic lost hope that he would invent the coal-dust binder – a liquid or dough-like substance that binds fibres, filler powder and other particles added into it. Some of the spilt contents fell on a log lying behind his flat in Midrand, Gauteng, where he had spent hours trying to develop the binder for petrochemical multinational company Sasol, which wanted to recycle the environmentally polluting heaps of dust from its coal mines in Mpumalanga’s Highveld region. After the bucket incident, Doyoyo thought it was game over, because the chemical he had made was proving to be corrosive and would cause damage to furnaces when the solid made from it was burnt. Little did he know that he had accidentally invented an eco-friendly paint. The chemical oozed and hardened on the piece of wood. When he and his team of engineers checked the log after the binder had dried out and they had poured water and chemicals over it, they noticed that the chemical did not flake off or wash away. “We took the log to paint specialists to check,” Doyoyo said, “and suddenly, we found that we had an eco-friendly, odourless and cost-effective paint, invented at the back of a flat in Africa.” Amoriguard paint The year was 2012 when frustration got the better of Doyoyo. He had just returned from the US, where he had spent about 20 years of his life studying and lecturing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “If you are an engineer and you realise that you have been working day and night without success … that is very frustrating sometimes,” said Doyoyo, speaking without so much as a trace of a US accent. “I invented this paint by pure accident when I kicked the bucket,” he said. Today the paint is known as Amoriguard. Produced in a Cape Town factory, it is on the market and has been used to paint estates in the legislative capital and in Gauteng. Some of the colour swatches offered by Amoriguard, a paint born and bred in SA Amoriguard was used to paint the newly built Mamelodi Mall, Doyoyo said. The paint is made from industrial waste, making it cheaper than paint made from mined silica. “This paint is free from harmful and polluting substances, such as volatile organic compounds that are harmful to the environment. We focused on eliminating any chemical substance that was hazardous to the environment and to people,” he said. Doyoyo is known worldwide as a researcher in applied mechanics, ultralight materials, green building, renewable energy and other fields of engineering. He has lectured in different engineering disciplines, including ocean engineering, civil and environmental engineering and mechanical engineering. Despite his achievements – and despite his having been associated with the best engineering schools in the world, such as MIT – Doyoyo has had a tough time finding a job in South Africa as well as being recognised for his skills since his return. He said his wish is to contribute to the innovation and technology sectors of the country. Doyoyo feels that despite his vast knowledge and skill set he has been overlooked for opportunities, including serving on boards that could sorely use his engineering knowledge. “I apply for jobs here all the time, but nobody wants me. My friends in the US, Asia and all over laugh at me when I tell them this. They ask what am I still doing in South Africa,” Doyoyo said. He laments that some of his students have been asked to help out at power stations like Medupi and they ask him why he is not involved. He said he could have become a professional soccer player as he was talented. In fact, when he left for the US, he made some money playing amateur soccer. He was paid about $500 (R7 300) to supplement his stipend. The Ahifambeni hydrogen motorbike “The stipends are very low when you are doing your doctorate. I was able to buy myself a car from the money I made playing soccer. There was that temptation to continue with soccer.” Turning to the present, Doyoyo said he was happy to put Africa on the map and show that Africans can be inventors. “Amoriguard is the future of paints, and the whole world will follow [us]. Africa has arrived and it will be nice when an African child walking along the streets of New York is asked what Africa has done, and they can say: ‘Africa has painted the buildings of the world.’” Doyoyo’s other inventions . Cement-less concrete known as Cenocell, which has been patented all over the world. Doyoyo invented this when he was based at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the US’s top research universities. This cement is made from fly-ash, a by-product of coal combustion in coal-fired power plants, cement production, paper manufacturing and mining operations; . Flushing solar-powered toilets that operate as a miniature waste-treatment plant. They are suitable for places where water supply and sanitation are scarce; . Ecocast brick-making machines that save water and energy; and . Design and construction of a hydrogen motorbike named Ahifambeni.