Students design Mielie Mailer

Students design Mielie Mailer

Trent Pike, who gave up studying Business Science in Economics and Statistics at UCT to pursue a green start-up business with co-founders Renato Marchesini (Business Science Marketing at UCT) and Erik Bourlov (a gemologist), says he wanted to create a business that would make a positive impact in SA,’ he said. ‘We created Mielie Mailer, a 100% compostable plastic alternative to traditional delivery sleeves. It’s a simple concept but one that could remove up to 50m single-use plastic bags from circulation every year,’ explained Pike. ‘We launched in September 2019 and, driven by a sense of urgency that we were running out of time, it took us only nine months from ideation to launch,’ he said. ‘Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. We fully agree. Education is the reason Mielie Mailer exists, and it’s the reason the world is finally waking up to our climate reality,’ said Pike. ‘We also have a weekly newsletter, The Mielie Maverick,’ he noted.