PB Gaz Brothers Win Top Entrepreneur Award With No-Deposit Gas Model

By Amara Osei

Three Kempton Park brothers have been named South Africa's Emerging Business Entrepreneurs of the Year for building a cooking-gas business that serves up to 6,800 households every month. Lwando, Simnikiwe and Lwazi Ndlangalavu, founders of PB Gaz, received the title at the 38th annual Business Partners Limited Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

The award targets entrepreneurs who have operated for one to five years with annual turnover of up to R10 million. PB Gaz fits the profile: it opened its first liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) outlet in Kempton Park in July 2023.

How does the no-deposit model work?

The brothers combined backgrounds in energy, banking and finance to attack one barrier above all: the upfront cylinder deposit that stops many township households from switching to gas. PB Gaz lets customers buy gas without paying that deposit upfront.

They offer two routes:

• Pay-as-you-go micro-refills
• A rent-to-own plan that transfers cylinder ownership to the customer after 12 months

The business targets families with irregular incomes who would otherwise burn paraffin, coal or wood. It adds bulk pricing for small businesses and a separate pricing plan for registered schools.

What does service look like day to day?

Customers order via WhatsApp and get free doorstep delivery within 24 hours. Every cylinder passes a safety check, and new customers receive free safety training in person or over WhatsApp video calls. A 24-hour emergency line backs the operation.

The company also runs free monthly community safety workshops and gives LPG safety talks to learners and teachers at local primary schools.

Gugu Mjadu of Business Partners Limited said the brothers had proven that accessible clean cooking can be a sustainable business.

"Clean cooking programmes only reach households when someone is prepared to deliver gas to their door at a price they can manage, and PB Gaz has shown that this can work as a business," she said.

Mjadu added that the business reached thousands of households and supplied schools within a few years of opening its first outlet, all while keeping a clean safety record.

What has the company built?

PB Gaz now runs three branches, in Kempton Park, Kaalfontein and Ivory Park. Monthly it serves between 5,700 and 6,800 households and sells roughly 19.6 tons of LPG.

Its customer base stretches well beyond homes. Spaza shops, street food vendors, small restaurants, caterers and creches buy from the company, and many use gas as a backup during power outages.

The brothers also built their own digital systems to run operations:

• A point-of-sale system that tracks customers' gas usage
• A customer app awarding loyalty points for refills
• A referral programme rewarding customers who bring in new business

Public schools form another pillar. PB Gaz supplies schools that need reliable cooking fuel to prepare daily meals under the National School Nutrition Programme.

The company has also been preselected as an implementation partner for the G20 Clean Cooking Legacy Programme, which supports households moving to cleaner cooking fuels.

Employment matters to the founders too. Eight in 10 branch employees are recruited locally, and the business aims for a workforce split evenly between women and young people.

What comes next?

PB Gaz plans to grow from three branches to eight, with proposed outlets in Ebony Park, Mayibuye, Tswelopele and Winnie Mandela. The expansion is expected to create 34 additional jobs.

The brothers also intend to introduce bulk tanker supply for schools and commercial clients, plus a wholesale cylinder exchange service for spaza shops. If the rollout lands, PB Gaz becomes a test case for whether doorstep clean energy can scale across South Africa's townships at a profit.