Painting it forward: ‘Dream in colour’

In the spirit of Nelson Mandela International Day, observed annually on 18 July, people like Bonga Masoka, the director at Splash Coatings Africa, continue to pay it forward via campaigns such as his One Bucket Splashed Dreams initiative, where the company repaints Grade 1 classrooms in Soweto.

Named as part of 2024’s cohort of Mail & Guardian’s (M&G) list of 200 Young South Africans, the 33-year-old said the company is the home that he never had the chance to build for his late mother. “She passed on in 2012, and her last words to me were, ‘I can’t wait to see the home you are going to build for me after university’. She passed on living in an informal settlement. As a single parent, and a street vendor (selling food and second-hand clothes), she couldn’t afford to build a home for her family,” Masoka said.

“Until 2012, my definition of success was to graduate, look for a job and build her a home. Splash is the home that I promised to build. The only difference now is that I am contributing to establishing a lot more homes for other people – our customers – hence the company saying, ‘We paint houses into homes and colour in people’s lives, so we can all dream in colour’.”

Masoka, who was a Bachelor of Science student at the University of Cape Town (UCT) between 2011 and 2014, recalled an amusing memory when he was looking for a lecture room called “TBA”, not knowing that it means “To Be Announced”.

“I enjoy engaging with different customers and hearing the stories of what ‘home’ means to them.”

The North West-born father and husband has watched, with great endearment, the growth of his company over the last seven years.

“We started as a reseller, buying paint from a supplier and reselling it in the market. In 2019, two years after establishing the company, we built our factory, a garage-sized factory that could only manufacture 60 litres of paint in three hours. We grew from selling 10 buckets in a month to selling hundreds of litres – from painting four-roomed homes to painting significantly expensive homes and commercial properties,” said Masoka.

“I enjoy the process of seeing different chemicals becoming a specific colour, and seeing that colour being used to paint a house into a home. I enjoy engaging with different customers and hearing the stories of what ‘home’ means to them.”

Humility in us

Speaking on the company’s corporate social investment (CSI), Masoka said, “The One Bucket Splashed Dreams campaign focuses on the repainting of Grade 1 classrooms in underprivileged communities across Gauteng, with a target to reach and impact 1 million beneficiaries in Soweto over the next three years.

“I have always been an advocate of early childhood development. With a strong belief that the mind can only meaningfully explore, in its adulthood, what it has been exposed to in its early childhood development stage. Schools, especially in disadvantaged communities, should not reflect the circumstances and hardships in those communities. Expansion [of the initiative] means scaling the initiative across the country. The goal is to go beyond just renovating and repainting Grade 1 classrooms. [The goal is] to contribute significantly to early childhood development, including building affordable state-of-the-art early childhood centres in disadvantaged communities.”

Commenting on Mandela Day, Masoka said: “The day is a symbolic reminder of the humility in us; the humility that Nelson Mandela lived to represent and exemplify. That amid the chaos and rush towards sustaining and improving our lives, let us not forget others, especially those that are less fortunate.”