MycoPro boom: How Warren Mkhize turned fungi into fortune

With 24% of young university graduates unemployed in South Africa, Warren Mkhize found himself struggling to secure work in 2020. Then, during a thunderstorm, he spotted mushrooms growing from the ground, which spark an idea. Researching South Africa’s mushroom industry, he discovered its high success rate and lack of barriers to entry. Seizing the opportunity, he founded MycoPro, cultivating organic oyster mushrooms in upcycled agricultural waste. From an initial 10kg yield, his team now supplies 300–400kg monthly to the SuperSpar Group and Asian markets. Mkhize is also promoting mushrooms as a nutritious meat alternative, educating people via social media. He aims to expand MycoPro into other provinces and is researching African psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use. “If regulations evolve like they did for cannabis,” he says, “we will explore it fully.”