Born partially blind, Mpho Manabalala navigated his early years through the melodies played by his musician father and three musical brothers.

Guided by the varying timbres resonating through his home in Seshogo in Limpopo, Manabalala soon found his way to a variety of musical instruments, eventually studying bass guitar and advanced jazz, rock and pop through Trinity College London.

“Music grew in me a from an early age,” says the 35-year-old co-owner of Polokwane-based Tripho Multimedia and Communications, which specialises in audio-visuals and creative stage design for live performances, including high-tech 3D rendering of staging concepts.

Manabalala is mostly unperturbed about the visual impairment he’s had since birth: “I just find ways to adapt, like I have an assistant with me when doing lighting projects.”

His visual impairment hasn’t held Manabalala back at all, or stopped headline South African artists such as Dr Tumi, Trish-Lady, Joyce BK, Patience Ntuli and Joyce Rai from selecting Tripho as their multi-media company of choice when performing in Limpopo. “There isn’t a client of mine who has ever complained about my sight; actually, most are amazed at how I can work in such an environment, because most of the time it’s pitch dark.”

He’s equally nonchalant about being born with albinism, simply saying: “I had to deal with stigma when growing up, specifically in high school, but since then I haven’t had any problems, especially professionally.”

Manabalala recoils at any insinuation that Tripho’s success may owe to him being “differently abled” – or, more offensively, “good BEE material” – and points out that he and business partner Tricia Mamaregane owe their achievement to being the first to spot a niche. “We identified a gap in the world of sound system, stage and lights and turned it into an entrepreneurship opportunity. Tripho combines all three of these elements into an innovative solution with the application of technology, which allows us to render concepts in 3D so that our clients know what to expect on the big day,” he explains.

When it comes to the tech side of his business, Manabalala defers from talk of his own talent and instead attributes Tripho’s pioneering use of technology to his upbringing, and specifically to his three big brothers. One went into electrical engineering, another had a passion for sound systems and the third went into IT. “Together, they taught me everything,” he says.

Although a serious jazz lover, it was gospel that first got Manabalala into the professional music business in 2016. “I was involved in a lot of gospel concert productions and saw the need for professional audio-visual in this genre,” he recalls.

Aided by his sister who worked closely with SMMEs and guided him on how to start a business using his personal savings, Tripho did well in its first years of operation. Manabalala says this was partly good luck but mostly due to Tripho having the unique selling point of professional production values, thanks to having qualified in-house sound engineers and technicians on-board. “We’ve been trendsetters in Limpopo since we started,” he chuckles.

Wanting to break out of this “big fish, small pond” setting, Manabalala applied to a business development programme run by incubator Fetola to learn how to expand his business. “Since completing the course, my business has grown drastically. I have acquired more assets and entrepreneurial skills, and I have also learned to grow my brand.”

It was during this time that Manabalala realised he wanted to help other young people get into the rapidly expanding South African music industry, and soon thereafter applied for SETA (Sector Training and Education Authority) accreditation so that he could train aspiring audio-visual engineers.

While Manabalala currently employs two full-time and two part-time staff, his SETA ambitions are on hold due to the COVID-19 crisis. All booked events have been cancelled and Tripho, running on savings, has had to focus on computer repairs, graphic design and online music distribution to survive.

True to form, Manabalala is choosing not to dwell on the difficulties and to rather find opportunities in these tumultuous times. “Since this pandemic, the industry has changed drastically. Artists are having to opt for online production due to lockdown, so I see opportunity for a lot of online concerts and for Tripho to fill the need for state-of-the-art online production for musicians.”

As for whether he’s had second thoughts on his career choice during the lockdown months, Manabalala laughs it off: “I get to work with what I love: sound and lighting. I get to meet a lot of new people and have fun at the same time. Why would I want to change that?”