Pretoria - Unemployment can sometimes give birth to creative thinkers and entrepreneurship, which could create opportunities for others.
For Donovan Masombuka, after he had left his job in 2019, the 35-year-old from Mamelodi saw an opportunity to start a sneakers-washing business.
Masombuka wanted to inspire the youth to better themselves and venture into entrepreneurship, especially young people who were still in school.
Fast-forward to 2022, Masombuka now owns a laundry and dry-cleaning business.
He believes that if his business grows, he will create employment in his community and surrounding areas.
“My dream is for my business to go out of Gauteng and possibly abroad.
“I’m getting calls from people around the continent that saw my work through social media and need business advice.
“It’s a huge honour and privilege to get my name out there so I can help people within and beyond South African borders.
“I can see that I’m an inspiration to a lot of people and I believe that with funding and the help of the community, my business will grow.
“This will help me in creating opportunities for those that are in need,” Masombuka said.
He said when he has a heavy workload, his mother, niece and sister step in to help.
“I get assisted by my family. When I do house calls, I hire people around my community that will help me carry out the job. I pay them a fee for the day’s work.”
Masombuka wishes for his business to grow in order for him to create more sustainable job opportunities.
“All I want is for those people not to work only for a day or two but to work for the medium to long term.
“I would sleep well knowing that there is someone who is putting food on the table for their family through this business,” Masombuka said.
The proud business owner said he does not want to win alone, but together with his community.
He operates the business from his home to save money on rent.
Just like any other business owner, Masombuka has his own challenges, some far beyond his control.
“When there’s load shedding twice a day is where we are struggling. There is no way we can dry the clothes, because we are using machines that are not spin quick.
“Another challenge was we could spend more than two days not getting customers, because our customers are mostly not from within my community.
“Some in my community don’t believe in my hustle, so most of the support is from outside,” Masombuka said.
He is looking for funding or sponsorship that will help buy more machinery for the business.
“We’re in need of laundry washing machines that will help make my job a bit easier.
“Another problem is load shedding; we are also in need of a generator in case it’s lights out.”
Pretoria News