TSiBA Entrepreneur Brings Expertise to Entrepreneurship Centre

Here in the Entrepreneurship Centre we focus on helping up-and-coming entrepreneurs start and maintain successful businesses.We are able to provide such support because our own employees are successful entrepreneurs themselves!

On Saturday I visited the hair salon of our colleague, Sonja Hagins. Sonja is a 2009 graduate of TSiBA's Micro-MBA course and is now responsible for the day-to-day tasks at the Entrepreneurship Centre. Sonja took the position because although she runs a successful business, she likes the security of a full-time paid position. She now runs the Centre Monday through Friday and takes clients at her salon in the evenings and on Saturdays.

Sonja runs the salon out of her home in Strandfontein, where she has a whole section of the house dedicated to the business. Regular customers strolled in throughout the day while Sonja meticulously tended to them one at a time. Some customers waited up to an hour for her attention yet they continue to return week after week. The reason is because Sonja knows the value of quality customer service. Her customers know that when they walk in to Sonja's Hair Salon they are in good hands.

As a one-woman operation, Sonja's salon fits her needs perfectly. She has two styling stations, equipped with all the effects of a top-notch salon, along with a separate room with two washing sinks and an industrial hair dryer. She concentrated on one customer at a time in order to give them her full attention, although she uses the additional stations during extremely busy periods. 

Most of the customers who passed through were coming for their weekly hair styling, although one woman came to get her hair cut. Regardless of the job, each customer sang Sonja's praises. Sonja say this is because she is a perfectionist. "I will not let someone leave my salon if I don't think they look good."

Xenophobia hits TSiBA Entrepreneur

Mluleki Sinuku, the owner of Imile, designs and produces leather sandals, belts, bags and other accessories from his shipping container in Crossroads. That was up until early last week though. During the early hours of Monday the 01 March his container was burned to ground at the hands of arsonists. In the devastation he lost everything, including the 6x6 meter shipping container, custom made moulds, machinery, five months of stock, and all his raw materials. The case has been reported to the Crossroads Police who are currently conducting an investigation.

Although he is not sure who the culprits are, Mluleki believes this may be a case of xenophobia. As the 6x6 container was too large for his needs, last month he began to lease a section of the container to two Somalians, who were running a spaza shop out of the container and were sleeping inside at the time of the fire. Thankfully they escaped unharmed.

The staff from the Entrepreneurship Centre visited  Mluleki on Wednesday to assess the damage caused by the fire. The container was still standing although sections of the walls were burnt out and the distinct smell of burnt remains lingered in the air. Considering the situation, however, we found Mluleki in good spirits.

Mluleki is now left with nothing, but he hopes to rebuild from scratch. Ideally he will begin producing out of Crossroads again but this time he would like to set up shop near the city centre, getting him closer to his customers. Aside from the increased traffic he would see from the local community, Mluleki expects to capitilize on the influx of tourists for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

It remains to be seen whether Mluleki will be able to rebuild Imile to its previous stature. If you would like to help Mluleki in any way, please contact the TSiBA Entrepreneurship Centre or find his contact details below:

To Contact Mluleki
Phone: 078 156 0175
Email: msinuku@smartcape.org.za

Hospitality Industry embraces Entrepreneurship Development

LBE Catering was started from Lungelo Masiza's modestly-equipped home kitchen in Khayelitsha back in 2006. As with any other emerging business, things were not easy and Lungelo went without a salary for over 2 years.

Under the mentorship of TSiBA Education, Lungelo soon realised that his passion for food was simply not enough! He needed to work towards attaining a qualification, something that was clearly beyond his reach!

It is at this point that TSiBA stepped in again, engaging it's extensive networks. Within 1 hour of doing so, the following opportunities were offered to Lungelo:

Cheryl Nisbitt, owner of Capsicum Culinary Studio in Pinelands generously agreed to offer Lungelo a bursary of R10 000 to enable him to study a City & Guilds Certificate in Professional Cookery. Upon successful completion of the certificate, Lungelo will be eligible to register for the Diploma in Professional Cookery. Both qualifications are internationally accredited. This would leave Lungelo with an outstanding balance of R6 000.

Then, after hearing Lungelo's story, FEDHASA's Carolyn Nevill agreed to pay 50% of Lungelo's outstanding fees, to the tune of R3 000!

Then the Table Bay Hotel in the Waterfront put the traditional cherry on top (pun intended) - they agreed to pay the full R3 000 balance of Lungelo's fees AND offered to sponsor his practical training in their world-class kitchens. Lungelo signed a 12-month contract as a Trainee Chef and dons his chef's attire with pride. The contract includes a number of benefits like a uniform allowance, meals, overtime, travelling, time off for classes ... and even a monthly salary of around R2000! Furthermore, the Table Bay Hotel appreciates that Lungelo wishes to continue running his business and have encouraged him to negotiate his shifts with them in order to do so. "We love to help people who are willing to go the extra mile and show initiative" says Christelle Horne, HR Manager for this prestigious hotel. Now there is even talk of Lungelo being offered an opportunity to train in Italy ... we will definitely keep you posted!

In retrospect, most of the credit needs to go to Tana Breytenbach, Group Development Manager of the renowned Vineyard Hotel in Newlands. When Tana heard Lungelo's story, she jumped into action and facilitated all of the above. Thank you, Tana.

"With a grandmother who owned a butchery and shebeen, a mom who sold fish and nowadays organises loans - and the funeral parlour on my dad's side of the family - the kids in the Masiza family like to develop themselves!" enthuses Lungelo. "We work for what we have and we don't ask for help from our families. Hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit is for us a part of life - it is in our veins!"

We wish you well, Lungelo and wherever you go, take the spirit of LBE Catering with you, bringing the world "traditional African cuisine with a modern twist".

Fraser Siteti Pays It Forward!

You may remember Fraser Siteti, founder and director of Siteti Consulting Services CC (refer our Blog Post dated August 2009). Well, what was refered to then as 'book selling' has grown into something much bigger than what Fraser expected!

His registration as a verified/approved supplier to the Western Cape Government for various projects has proven to be very successful. When the first tender was awarded in July 2009, Fraser did not know where to turn as banks had denied him credit, while another government agency's loan offer did not make business sense. "TSiBA came to my rescue!" says Fraser, "Peter and Yolande facilitated the application for a bridging loan with the TSiBA Board of Directors. TSiBA gave me the loan ... I could not believe how lucky I was!"

Well, this tender was followed by another, and another, and another ...

Fraser is so thankful for the various opportunities he has been able to access through TSiBA that he "took the decision to get more involved with TSiBA's drive of 'Paying-It-Forward'". Earlier this year Fraser made himself available as a volunteer Facilitator where he co-facilitates Entrepreneurship for TSiBA Foundation Year students. Most recently he has also agreed to mentor a BBA first year student, Mawethu Mbanga.

Fraser wishes to encourage all readers to "pay-it-forward. There are many people who will cross your path and help you across life's hurdles. Never forget to show your gratitude because as you cross one hurdle, you approach the next one!"

Contact Fraser at 071 363 8911 or siteticonsulting@gmail.com

Tirama Pours First Concrete

After two years, Tirama poured their first concrete at their work site in Khayelitsha. After securing an investment from Old Mutual of R50000 to produce vibracrete slabs for walls and fences, they used the funds to purchase a second hand cement mixer, vibrating table and cement moulds.

Tirama has had numerous requests for quotes, and finally this week secured their first sale. On Wednesday, the team from TSiBA's Entrepreneurship Centre visited Tirama and saw the guys hard at work in the hot sun mixing cement and filling the moulds.

Despite two years of struggling to get their business up and running, they remain very optimistic about moving forward and establishing themselves in Khayelitsha and the surrounding areas. After speaking to Sonwabo Rasimen,  the MD of the company, they agreed that we would return in a year's time and see significant growth.

Congratulations to Tirama on their first sale, and their perseverance in keeping their dream alive! Contact Sonwabo Rasimen at 073 301 0952 or email rsonawabo@yahoo.com.