Meet Mpho Makutu: TEEN who went from building robots to CEO
· The South African
Mpho Makutu grew up poor in Kopermyn, a rural village south of Polokwane in Limpopo. He started tinkering by taking apart his father’s hi-fi and it just snowballed from there. Some inventors need a lab, all Mr. Robot needs is whatever’s closest to hand.
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His fascination with technology began in Grade 5, when he built toy cars from wire and tin cans. Soon he was ‘repurposing’ electronic parts wherever he could find them at home. He remembers getting “quite a beating” for the unauthorised dismantling of his father’s hi-fi.
MPHO MAKUTU, AKA MR. ROBOT
Nevertheless, after matriculating in 2015, he moved to Johannesburg to follow his dream of studying mechanical engineering. The cost of living was crushing, and he needed a way to fund his studies. His answer was simply to build and build … and keep building. Cardboard, coat-hanger wire, cool-drink cans, deodorant bottle caps, old drills, you name it, Mpho Makutu salvaged it all.
He would take anything of use from dump sites around Johannesburg and make robots and remote-controlled cars. He then sold these creations to tourists on Vilakazi Street in Soweto. Over the weekend he could make up to R300. Not much, but it covered groceries and rent, and helped support his studies.
One memorable piece was a red robotic crane, about two metres tall, with four motors and a wired remote control with seven levers. It was the real deal. It took Mpho Makutu two weeks to build, and it could lift small objects and turn through 360 degrees. “My friends and family were amazed to see that trash could make a colourful robot,” he said.
HASN’T ALWAYS BEEN SMOOTH SAILING
What a difference a decade makes. Scavenging through rubbish dumps to CEO. Image: File/FotorBack in 2016, Johannesburg metro police confiscated his wares in the city. They wanted R2 600 to release them, which he didn’t have. Then in late 2017, Harvard-eduacted, Israeli-Palestinian vlogger Nuseir Yassin, better known as Nas Daily, with more than 70-million followers, spotted Mpho Makutu (20 at the time) outside a Soweto restaurant. He compiled a one-minute clip that went viral and changed everything. Watch it HERE.
So, where is Mr. Robot now? In 2021, Mpho Makutu was named artist-in-residence at the Shade arts centre in Brixton, Johannesburg. It was part of its Waste Not Want Not project, working alongside waste reclaimers – a perfect showcase of his skills. Present day, he is based in Johannesburg, where he serves as the founder and CEO of MphoRobotics. Located in Braamfontein, it’s an enterprise focused on building STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) robots for education.
We love stories like Mpho Makutu’s because, trying as it was, he didn’t wait for a grant, a handout or a science scholarship. He quite literally forged his own path with curiosity, ingenuity and whatever the rest of us saw fit to throw away …
But what do you think? Does the story of Mpho Makutu leave you feeling just a little bit inspired? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …