Sky's the limit for internet provider

Lorna Mlonzi has become a beacon of hope for people in the township by providing them with Internet access through her company Sky Internet SA.

Mlonzi, 29, is the founder and CEO of Sky Internet, an internet service provider that provides fast, reliable internet fibre connectivity, domain registrations and web design, among others. The company was registered in 2019 before it officially launched in April this year, with 10 employees who include network and support engineers, technicians and a chief commercial officer.

Mlonzi is a certified network engineer who holds a national diploma in information communications technology (ICT) from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She used to work for Vodacom and Cell C before she decided to go into business. 

The company is in Cape Town and provides internet access to households and small businesses in Nyanga, Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and Delft.

The businesses she supplies for include butcheries, supermarkets and taverns.

Mlonzi, who was born in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, grew up in Nyanga East in Cape Town where there is no access to reliable internet connection.

She said she started the company to introduce a new environment in townships. “I started the company to bridge the digital gap between the haves and the have-nots, looking at multiple possibilities of how we can use connectivity as a tool for transformation in townships.

“Access to the internet enabled me, as a black woman and a product of the township, to access information which changed my life professionally and my personal development. Sky Internet SA aims to change the narrative of how we view our circumstances, our spaces and ourselves. We want to be an agent of change,” said Mlonzi.

“I wanted to create a different environment in our communities and make access to information possible. Our townships are known for having a tavern, shebeen, salon, car wash, chesa nyama and supermarket. I saw a gap to provide internet access and combat youth unemployment,” said Mlonzi.

Mlonzi said the reception she has received from her clients has been positive.

“They are very happy. What satisfies them is that my service is fast and reliable. This is the most exciting part of the business. People are using my service and as they use it they have access to the internet and learn about it,” said Mlonzi.

In 2013, she worked for two months at a Cell C branch as sales and marketing specialist and the following year she worked at Vodacom for a year as a customer support specialist.

Mlonzi said she used the money she saved up while working to start her business.

She also used money made from a transport business she ran in 2020 during the height of Covid where she would take employees providing essential services to work.

“I owned a 12-seater vehicle. I would pick them up in the mornings and collect them in the afternoons at 2꞉30pm. The money I made also helped me to set up my business,” she said.

Mlonzi said she was looking forward to expand her service outside of the Western Cape. “Our short-term goal is to get to 100,000 subscribers and 1-million users in the long-term,” said Mlonzi.

kokam@sowetan.co.za