Johannesburg- Starting a business in South Africa is not for the faint hearted.
Entrepreneurs are faced with the everyday challenges of trying to outwit the competition, and the added pressure of trying to trade amid load shedding, high fuel prices and ever-rising interest rates. And there are other unforseen challenges - like riots, floods and pandemics.
When Lebohang Nyandeni (25) started his coffee business, LebzCafe during lockdown he was well aware of the adverse conditions facing his venture, but he started anyway.
LebzCafé is a coffee company that offers a wide range of coffee products including 100% freeze dried premium instant coffee, coffee beans, hot chocolate, chai latte and still water.
However, nothing could have prepared him for the devastating events that would eventually shut his business down and almost put pay to his dreams.
The riots of July 2021 were a watershed moment in South African history. It saw the looting of businesses and destruction of property amounting to billions of rands. Entrepreneurs found themselves in the crosshairs of members of their own communities as they went on the rampage looting and pillaging indiscriminately.
“When the looting started, our kiosk that at Evaton Mall was looted. The mobile trolleys that we used to sell coffee from in the township were also looted, people were using the trolleys to go inside stores like Shoprite and loading goods into them,” said Lebohang.
As if that was not bad enough, Lebohang and his business were dealt a further blow when his delivery stock was stolen from courier kiosks.
“We were couriering these packets of coffee to different parts of South Africa. Places like Cape Town and KZN. We were using the Paxi system through PEP stores and when PEP was looted they snatched our product as well.”
It was a time that Lebohang described as ‘heartbreaking’. What hurts the most was the knowledge that his employees would no longer have an income.
He becomes visibly emotional when he speaks about coming to the realisation that he had lost everything.
But Lebohang was not down for long. He came across the #RevivingTownshipEconomies (#RTE) initiative, a partnership between the Afrika Tikkun Foundation, Rhiza Babuyile and Township Fleva.
The partnership is the brainchild of social entrepreneur and philanthropist, Alef Meulenberg. Its aim : “to help small township and rural-based businesses rise from the ashes, forging a path of resilience and innovation that will leave a legacy in the local economies of affected townships in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng.”
Through funding from this initiative, Lebohang was able to revive his coffee business and is back selling his iKoffie brand coffee from a trestle table at Evaton Mall. He has ambitions to one day set up a kiosk from where he can expand his product offering.
“Currently I’m revived, I have equipment, stock and coffee machine. We are expanding we are growing all over South Africa and we are distributing beans.”
Lebohang believes he has a great product and describes his LebzCafe blend as “well-balanced”. It is made from coffee beans sourced in Kenya.The blend is made from Robusta and Arabica coffee beans.
His goal is to see his coffee brand grow and made available in retail stores. He has taken the first towards achieving this goal.
“My main dream is to actually see iKoffie in retail stores. Currently we sell from our online store and social media and we are doing quite well, but we are actually pushing hard to be in retail. Imagine walking into a retail store and seeing this product on the shelves, it would be quite inspiring,” said Lebohang.
Lebohang’s story is just one of the stories chronicled in the book by Alef Meulenberg, The Overcomers. The book is an account of how ten entrepreneurs persevered in the aftermath of a devastating global pandemic, and survived both the July 2021 riots and the destructive floods that ravaged parts of Gauteng and KZN.
Meulenberg travelled to townships like Alexandra and as far as the deep rural areas of KZN, collecting stories of hope and perseverance from entrepreneurs who refused to give up even when the odds were stacked against them.
“Through the wealth of wisdom gained in the process of rescuing these businesses, we can usher in a new era of a youth that believes in the power of entrepreneurship and how it can work for the South African economy,” said Muelenberg.
IOL Business