Energetic new farmer Mbali Nwoko started her vegetable farming operation only two years ago, but her determination to succeed has been rewarded and recognised. Last year she was named one of 20 finalists in the prestigious 702 Sage Small Business Awards. Siyanda Sishuba reports.
When asked what she puts her success down to, Mbali Nwoko, who launched her Green Terrace crop farming business in 2016, says her curiosity and determination to farm enabled her to create partnerships in the sector. These have ensured a bright future for her young business.
THE ROAD TO FARMING
Before pursuing a career in agriculture, Nwoko was the co-founder and managing director of a recruitment agency. In 2016, just three years after starting the business, she made a drastic career change after being introduced to farming by a friend who had also recently started his own farming business.
In addition to learning about his operation, she discovered that there were opportunities for new entrants in agriculture, and so began carrying out her own research. She then registered her own farming business, and her search for land started.
“Based on the research I’d done, I decided to start by growing spinach, for which there seemed to be a ready market. I had to provide the start-up capital myself because I had no luck accessing a loan from financial institutions,” she recalls. In May 2016, Nwoko managed to find a 100ha plot in Heidelberg that she could lease for her business.
“Once I found the land, I was ready to start ploughing and learn other things on the job,” she says.
She was soon taught the first of many hard lessons: after only one month of leasing, relations between herself and her landlord’s relatives soured, forcing her to look for an alternative.
“I’d already ordered 40 000 cabbage seedlings, 20 000 spinach seedlings and 16 000 mixed pepper (green, red and yellow) seedlings, which had to be planted in July and September, so I couldn’t waste any time,” she says.
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