Words: Boitumelo Mmakou. Article from July 2015 issue of Bona Magazine.
Boitumelo Mmakou speaks to South Africa’s youngest patent holder, Ludwick Marishane (25), who invented the internationally acclaimed Dry Bath – a product set to transform sanitation in impoverished areas.
I was born in Limpopo, but grew up in Johannesburg.
Going to schools in Joburg enabled me to speak English fluently and use advanced resources, like computer labs, to better myself. This worked in my favour when I moved back to Limpopo in 2005 because I was steps ahead of my classmates.
I have what I call the ‘inventor’s syndrome’.
I’ve always been interested in innovation and entrepreneurship. When I was 15, I tried to develop a healthy cigarette brand, but someone else had already established the idea into a business. I later tried to establish a magazine targeted at security companies, but it failed due to lack of funding.
Moving back to rural Limpopo meant living in a disadvantaged town with little or no resources.
Our community often didn’t have water, and this inspired my DryBath business, which I started at the age of 17. When a friend shared his wish to use a waterless product, I thought it was a great opportunity to start a new project and create something fresh to help with this situation.
DryBath is the world’s first bath-substituting gel, officially released onto the market in 2012.
It does all the work of a bath without the need for water. The germ-killing gel is biodegradable, and is being used across Africa, the UK and America. You simply apply it to your body and you’re done. No need for a long bath as the product moisturises the skin and leaves you smelling fresh.
I initially created DryBath to help people without water resources.
However, this changed when the demand came from households with water resources, mainly mothers who wanted to save time in the morning preparing their children for school. Today, DryBath is sold internationally and can be ordered on our website.
I graduated with a bachelor of business science, majoring in finance and accounting, at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2011.
In the same year, I was rated the best student entrepreneur in the world at the Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards in New York City. 2011 was a great year as Google also named me one of the 12 brightest young minds in the world. I’m currently completing my Master of Philosophy postgraduate in inclusive innovation at UCT. In 2013, I was featured in America’s Time magazine’s Top 30 under 30 people changing the world.
I am also the founder of Headboy Industries Inc.
An innovative product development and commercialisation company seeking to be the home of African innovation – providing solutions to global consumers. Together, with a privately run technology innovation agency, we focus on conducting measurable commercial experiments that can produce sustainable results for private or public clients.
I plan to have Headboy Industries Inc grow the distribution of DryBath.
We want to grow the size of the company and employ more people to advance all our in-house divisions. We are currently toying with the idea of selling the product to local stores, such as Pick n Pay.
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