Meet Sabelo Mkhwanazi, a 32 years old South African agribusiness man, and the Founder & CEO of Mayanda Fresh, a fresh produce supermarket based in Tongaat, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
Sabelo started working as a cleaner in a butchery store. After working for several months, he saw a gap in the retail market and launched his own company that deals with fresh agricultural produce.
His fresh produce supermarket sells a wide variety of products which includes dry groceries, meat, takeaway food, bakery goods, fruits and vegetables.
Mkhwanazi also owns businesses in transport and logistics, construction and plant hiring. He said he decided to venture into retail as he saw a gap in the market for locally owned supermarkets. While there were small shops in communities, most were now foreign owned.
Mayanda Fresh sells a range of products, from vegetables and baked goods to bus and flight tickets and water and electricity vouchers. It includes a deli and butchery service.
Managing a business like this in South Africa is not without challenges, and one of them is load shedding.
Mkhwanazi said he had to work around load shedding times as he did not have a back-up generator, which would cost him R450 000. He wants to expand and open branches of the store in other areas.
Mkhwanazi said his advice for young entrepreneurs was to start with what they have, conduct thorough research, and build up their savings.
He added that it was important to write up a business concept and work on implementing it slowly, without compromising on standards and quality.
Mkhwanazi said entrepreneurs should be prepared for failure as some businesses might not take shape because of a lack of funding, and that it was important to put these setbacks aside and focus on concepts that could work.
Although competition was fierce, there was room for new players, he added. As a start-up shop, the business employed 20 people, but it would need 40 to 50 staff members once it was fully operational, he said.
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