Adding organic value with SuperFly

Local company SuperFly Bio Converters specialises in using insects to add value to organic waste.

Organic waste is fed to insect larvae, and then converted into higher value products such as natural fertilisers and insect proteins.

Founders Sven Gruettemeyer and Oliver Bause began the business in a garage in early 2020, just before the Covid-19 lockdown.

The business was selected as one of the Sanlam Bridge winners for 2022, an accolade that has allowed the business’s name to spread.

Currently, SuperFly Bio Converters sources and uses only pre-consumer food waste that does not include animal waste products, except dairy products to feed the larvae.

Joint efforts

Gruettemeyer and Bause both grew up and attended school in Windhoek. Gruettemeyer studied electrical engineering at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, while Bause studied accounting at the University of Cape Town. He completed his postgraduate diploma and trained with Deloitte in Windhoek and qualified as a chartered accountant.

The duo decided to work together to create sustainable local products.

Gruettemeyer has worked on a similar project as an engineer for two years and decided to join the business in his spare time, while he was still employed. Bause works full-time on the venture and manages operations, planning, finance and accounting without prior Black Soldier Fly (BSF) experience.

Among the challenges they have faced are getting started and finding working solutions to problems, finding the right employees to help with the workload, accepting setbacks during training and working toward achieving sales growth for the venture to support itself and secure additional funding.

Another was keeping the same line of BSF alive that they originally started with.

On the positive side, Bause said “we also count additional funds with a grant from Sanlam as a win for us.”

Creating a product to be used by the local community requires a drive to cater to needs observed. Currently, the reach of the business to the local community is done through employment of five local people. “In the future, we aim to expand this to provide the knowledge, implements and young larvae needed to convert waste on small scales by communities and thereby produce their own additional source of chicken feed and compost,” said Bause.

All in a day’s work

The duo was grateful for being selected as a Sanlam Bridge winner, as this was a great opportunity for the growth of the business. “The best part was the feeling of validation that their hard work has inspired others besides having a good concept alone,” said Bause.

At SuperFly Bio Converters, days start early with routine processes, before sunrise from Monday to Sunday. Bause says it is important to first make sure that all the heating and ventilation systems are still operating correctly and that they are reset if anything is amiss.

Following this, they make sure that the previous day’s eggs are collected, accurately measured and placed into the incubator to hatch. The wellbeing of the adult colony and water levels are assessed. The status of all larvae is the next thing to require attention, from those in the incubator to those feasting in the ‘Tunnel’, to those air drying, being transferred out into the morning sun. Solving any problems identified in these areas immediately take priority.

Bause says the plan for the business is to increase production through increasing capacity and improving efficiency of developed solutions to maximise the use of the space they have.