Page 76 - State of Biodiversity 2023-2024

74 STATE OF BIODIVERSITY REPORT 2023/2024
Profile: Nkosinathi Nene
Nkosinathi Nene, founder of Sthenjwa Environmental.
Nkosinathi Nene was born in Greytown, South Africa, and grew up in the small town of Kwanoshezi, near Pietermaritzburg. He attended Kwanoshezi Primary School and later matriculated from Upper Umvoti Combined School in Greytown.
Growing up in a single-parent home as the eldest child, Nkosinathi had to provide for his siblings, making it difficult for him to pursue his dream of studying BCOM Accounting. However, his fortunes changed when the National Working on Fire programme, introduced to his area to combat prevalent wildfire issues, gave him his first job as a firefighter in 2004. His dedication and skillset earned him successive promotions, moving from lead supervisor in 2005 to senior supervisor in 2006.
In 2008, Nkosinathi was deployed to Knysna as a senior supervisor, and in 2009, he was assigned to work under power lines in Newcastle. In 2010, Nkosinathi’s expertise led to his deployment to Durban as a senior manager within eThekwini Municipality’s Working on Fire Project. By the end of that year, he was promoted to assistant project manager.
In 2011, Nkosinathi’s career advanced as he became the project manager for the eThekwini Working on Fire High- Altitude Team. He notes that eThekwini Municipality was the first to implement a High-Altitude team in the region, but that in 2017, the Team in eThekwini was disbanded and reassigned to Umsunduzi Municipality for drought relief efforts.
During his tenure with eThekwini Working on Fire, between 2012 and 2022, he made full use of the many training opportunities that helped to develop his skills and career. He completed leadership and mentoring courses, an incident investigation course with NOSA, and level 1 and 2 rope technician training. Additionally, he earned a Project Management certification from Boston City Campus in 2019.
Despite his efforts, Nkosinathi was retrenched by Working on Fire in 2022 due to funding constraints. Although devastated, he seized the opportunity to register a company, namely Sthenjwa Environmental. Leveraging his 18 years of environmental experience, his company offered Invasive Alien Plant control services, including in steep (often inaccessible) areas, as well as integrated fire management services. The work initially taken on was mostly around Pietermaritzburg, and the contracts were small.