Lesedi Moseki is redefining resilience through iGrovest Group. Starting with nothing in Taung, North West, he turned communal land into a thriving castor bean enterprise. In this Farmer Mentor episode, he shares how small-scale farmers can tap into niche markets and own their value chain.
For Lesedi Moseki, founder and managing director of iGrovest Group in Taung, North West, entrepreneurship was always part of his life plan. Trained as an agricultural economist with experience in government and the private sector, he left formal employment in January 2020 to build his own agribusiness, just weeks before the Covid lockdown.
“The leap was not easy. I don’t see myself going back to the system. Entrepreneurship is where I belong,” he says.
Before focusing fully on agriculture, Moseki co-founded a shuttle business and later launched a maize milling operation during lockdown. Although the milling business grew rapidly, it ultimately failed due to pricing pressure and distribution challenges.
“We were on the shelves, but we weren’t making money. That experience taught me the importance of margins, due diligence, and controlling your distribution,” he reflects.
The lesson was clear: farmers and processors who surrender their routes to market often surrender their pricing power.
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Why castor bean?
Moseki founded iGrovest in 2019 amid growing discussions around biodiesel and climate change. He initially explored castor bean as a biofuel feedstock but later pivoted to cold-pressed castor oil for health and cosmetic markets after identifying stronger demand.
“When something grows naturally in your environment, there is opportunity; you just need to unlock it.”
Castor remains a niche crop in South Africa, and Moseki believes this is precisely where opportunity lies.
He notes that farming is one of the slowest paths to wealth creation, which is why farmers should actively explore untapped markets with room for growth and differentiation.
Moseki encourages producers not to confine themselves to long-established industries such as maize or cattle, where competition is intense, and margins are often constrained. Instead, he highlights emerging crops such as pigeon pea and cassava, which institutions like the Agricultural Research Council are supporting in terms of research and commercialisation.
Starting from zero
iGrovest began on communal land in Taung with virtually no capital. There was no infrastructure and no irrigation. Moseki initially sourced water manually before raising funds to drill a borehole and acquired an old tractor to prepare the land.
“We started with nothing, just an idea, access to seed and our own hands,” he says.
The first harvest was processed entirely by hand, with oil extracted manually. Market validation followed through direct sales and social media engagement, and as demand grew, the operation expanded from two hectares to around 20 hectares.
iGrovest also collaborates with other farmers through a seed supply and buy-back system, enhancing local participation in the value chain.
The company is now extending its market reach through direct partnerships with retailers, including an agreement with Spar, while continuing to supply local pharmacies. This approach enables the company to maintain control over pricing and distribution, minimise reliance on intermediaries, and capture the full value of niche crops like castor bean.
Moseki stresses measured growth, “Do not try to scale too fast. Grow gradually, your area, then the next town. If you move too quickly, the market can choke you.”
Collaboration drives success
Beyond production, Moseki emphasises unity among farmers.
“Too many of us work in silos,” he says. “Successful agricultural industries were built through collaboration over generations.”
He believes black farmers, in particular, must identify scalable commodities and build industries collectively from the ground up. “We must support one another and grow together. That is how we become significant in this sector.”
For Moseki, resilience begins with clarity of purpose. “You must know your ‘why’. Business will break you many times. If your reason is weak, you will stop.”
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