Leaving a legacy in renewable energy — an interview with Johnny Cullum, the outgoing CEO and founder of Mulilo Energy.
Construction and property magnate Johnny Cullum was looking for aeroplane advice when he started a conversation with former motor car racing champion Chris Aberdein in a Cape Town parking lot sixteen years ago.
“We did everything wrong. Firstly, I didn’t know Chris well, and if you want to start a company, you need capital, you need to know what you’re doing, and you need a strategy or a plan,” Johnny chuckles. He admits that he assumed moving into the country’s highly regulated, rapidly evolving, renewable energy industry would not be that different.
With more than 90 employees, Mulilo occupies the 21st floor of the Portside green building in Cape Town, the city’s tallest. It is just one floor up from another well-known developer and IPP, Scatec. “It’s probably very optimistic, but that’s our strategy, and so far, it’s on track, and that’s what we’re working towards,” Johnny said.
In 2022, Mulilo’s profile in South Africa’s rapidly evolving energy landscape caught the attention of the global infrastructure investment fund Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners . Jan Oberholzer, the former Chief Operating Officer of Eskom, has taken on the role of Chairman, previously held by Chris, and Avra Moodley has recently joined Mulilo from Mainstream as Head of Legal.
They were not really interested in reinvesting significantly in the business, he added. “The deal with CIP is absolutely a growth strategy.” The partnership worked well, and the early wind farms which the two companies built near De Aar in the Northern Cape, with a total of 167 turbines, are among the best performing in the country.
“I’ve changed careers three times. I’ve tacked over when I’ve seen opportunities. Between having a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit and a reasonable education… if you can think, you can work out how to do it. And there was an obvious opportunity in renewable energy.” These requirements formed part of the bidding process and accounted for 30% of the bid adjudication at the time.
“That’s why we decided to do it all ourselves. We run this programme internally, we do all the assessing, monitoring and payments, and every cent goes to the community,” said Johnny. He is also contemplating making one of the two game farms he has in Namibia, his wife’s country of origin, into a sustainable tourist destination.“I see a very good future in the country. I think that it’s always too easy for people to be negative, but I think what also happens – and it’s happened in our history before – is that just a small thing needs to change, and then big things happen,” he said.
Johnny Cullum Mulilo Energy Energy
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