Gauteng Woman Thrives With Food Businesses After Initially Struggling to Find Sustainable Employment

• After struggling to find solid employment to cover all her bills, one hard-working lady decided to make things happen for herself
• The 28-year-old first sold avocados and atchar as a side hustle before starting her catering business
• Senzekile Mabasa shares with Briefly News her journey and dreams of success for the future

One hard-working lady residing in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, is hustling hard for success with her various food enterprises.

Senzekile Mabasa is a passionate businesswoman, and while her various endeavours started as side hustles to supplement her income, she is determined to be successful.

Talking to Briefly News’ Women Empowerment Editor, the 28-year-old shares her journey and passion for food.

Gauteng woman sells atchar and recently started a catering business

Senzekile holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology, which she obtained from the University of Pretoria in 2017. However, she struggled to find work in this field:

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“I took a post in admin at one of the blood labs. The income was very small and living in Pretoria was very expensive. I needed more than my salary to survive, so I sought out a solution to try side hustling.

“At first, I sold avocados, but that was met with the challenge of costs when they were going out of season. That is when I decided to try selling atchar as it was available throughout the year.”

The young entrepreneur explains that she started selling mango atchar in 2021 before she began marketing homemade sauce and vegetable atchar. In April 2023, she founded the catering business.

However, there were many obstacles Senzekile needed to overcome with her business:

“One of the challenges I encountered in my business was that because I was selling online, most of my potential clients were people far from where I lived and I would need to find means to deliver to them despite the difficulty of moving food within the country.

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“However, I eventually managed to get proper packaging and an affordable courier service to deliver my atchar to people in different cities and provinces.”

The entrepreneur aims to help others with her business

Senzekile works with her mother, sister, cousin, and friend in the catering business. Although she is not a qualified chef, the perseverant lady explains that she has always been passionate about food and business:

“Since I believe in empowering other people to also try to start a side hustle as a means of creating additional income, I supply five ladies and two guys with atchar to resell.

“I have also trained a few other people to make atchar and sell independently, including my mother, who has been selling for over a year now.”

Senzekile shares her aspirations for the future, which involve growing her catering and atchar businesses:

“I am hoping to open my own store where I can supply people with atchar to resell in their communities and to have a big events company where we offer catering, décor, and sound systems for any kind of event.”

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With youth unemployment still rife in South Africa, seeing a young businesswoman making things happen for herself is inspiring.

Motivated HR graduate sells kotas to make ends meet

In a related story, Briefly News also wrote about a stunning South African woman who recently graduated with a degree in human resource management and started a kota business to survive.

Faith Maringa said that although she is looking for work that aligns with her studies, selling kotas helps her make ends meet.

Source: Briefly News