FEATURE: Meet Makgwela Ramaboea | Botlokwa's Most Resilient Entrepreneur

Growing personal resilience is a vital part of human existence. It helps our survival through evolution and upheavals – in life and in business.

Resilience or hardiness is the ability to adapt to new circumstances when life presents the unpredictable. — Salvatore R. Maddi,

To close off our 2021 feature article post, Meet Makgwela Ramaboea, a true definition of a resilent human being. Coming back from a small town of Botlokwa in Limpopo, Makgwela has affirmed Thomas Edison's quote that "our greatest weakness lies in giving up; The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time".

Educational Journey
Makgwela's educational journey started at Millennium Combined School where he matriculated in 2009. After matric, he pursued Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at University of Limpopo and graduated in 2013. Shortly after graduating, he was offered a position as an assistant lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology which ran for 09 months.

Soon after the contract lapsed and with no job coming, Makgwela enrolled for Electrical Engineering at Capricorn Tvet College where he did N2 & N3. While studying Electrical Engineering, he was called for a software development internship at a company based in Gauteng called Sable Assets.

"Just few months into the internship, i felt abused and taken for granted and that's where i decided to quit".

Entrepreneurship
"With the experience i got from the internship, i decided to open my own ICT shop called Ramaboea Printing and Stationery, with just a single printing machine and no money".

He wanted to create a one stop printing shop where one can do all types of printings. Unfortunately, due to lack of industrial machines, the business was not profitable enough. The business needed industrial machines to reach its full potential. The industrial printing machines that the business needed were around R130 000 at the time, which was hard to secure without some funding.

"At one point, i got a tender worth R51 000 and i paid another company R30 000 to do the printings as i had no machines. To my surprise, the company only used R6000 to do the whole work. This is where i realised that not having the right equipment will cost me a lot. I had to come up with a plan"

In 2018, Makgwela decided to get a mobile kitchen. The kitchen sold a variety of fast foods like kotas and burgers. The plan was to save money made from the kitchen to buy equipments for the ICT shop. Everything was going well and the kitchen was making around +-R2000 a day.

"Just as i thought i was on my way to my big break, the minister of health announced the outbreak of Listeriosis which hit the kitchen business hard because the business was centered and relied on products like viennas and russians which all were suspected to have been the main source of listeriosis".

After the listeriosis saga, the business recovered but it was never the same as people no longer trusted iKota.

Farming
"Immediately after the listeriosis saga, i decided to start selling chickens with my parents"

Initially, the chickens were sold alive until there was a demand for slaughtered chickens. When the demand grew, Makgwela responded and slaughtered many chickens which saw them making around R1800 per batch. At the peak of the business, the company would slaughter around 700 chickens which ran out within 03 weeks.

"After some time while studying about chickens, i learnt that growing chickens is more profitable than when you buy them matured from a supplier".

This is where he started growing chickens from when they are few days old up to the day when they are ready to be sold or slaughtered. The poultry business became successful and he would at times make around +-R6000 per batch. The storage capacity has also increased and he's intending to accommodate around 10 000 chickens in the next coming years - All thanks to his older brother, Kaizer Maloka, who made this possible. 

Seeing how the poultry business was growing, In 2020 he decided to dig deep into farming and started crop farming. Currently, he has planted about 12 000 cabbages, green beans, Okra and green peppers.

"Fortunately for me, when i started crop farming i met a person who had given up on farming and he decided to sell me his old 02 hectare irrigation system at a low price".

Becoming a teacher
Realising that the businesses needed an extra source of income, he decided to go back to school and enroll for PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate In Education). Luckily, on completion of the PGCE he got a job at Soshanguve where he is currently a professional maths teacher.

"Being a teacher that i am now helps me a lot with covering for business costs that may arise unexpectedly and i am also able to fund my businesses without looking for any funding.."

"....Because i'm now based in Tshwane, When i am not around Limpopo my young brother (Pheeha Ramaboea) takes care of all the businesses and i only get to oversee them on weekends when i get time to travel to Limpopo"

Conclusion
Makgwela says it is hard starting a business from the ground but one should never develop an energy to quit. At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to anyone's success is the positive involvement of parents. Makgwela says he is very grateful to his parents for always supporting him on every business that he starts. "...without them i am nobody; their support carried me up to this far".

"My love for farming came as a result of understanding the power and importance of food security and my motivation comes from my older brother (Kaizer Maloka) who is also doing well in the farming business".