My Entrepreneurial journey and my love for business

This has been an interesting week for me as it was an Exhibition week for Post Graduate  Management Diploma in Entrepreneurship. This is for the groups in the programme to showcase their innovative products.  This has made me think of my journey as an entrepreneur which began as a child. My journey as an entrepreneur has been an interesting one. This journey started when I was a little girl, probably in primary school if I remember correctly. My first business venture actually started through necessity. When I realized that I was in need of basic necessities such as toiletries, pocket money and the likes, I asked my grad dad Gideon Thusi (bless his soul) to buy me what we use to call " red mouth lollipops". During my time this was a favorite among children my age. This was because of its ability to dye one's mouth red. If you grew up in a township around the early 1990's then you will know and understand exactly what I mean. I was the first to sell these at school and my lollipops became a hit. I remember how exciting it was for me to be able to manage my own cash and save up for what I wanted to buy. Then I was in high school and everyone was selling these and I had to graduate to making and selling sausage rolls, which gave me a 100% return on investment which was super exciting and meant that I had to manage more relationships. Even with older students that were in higher grades. I embarked on so many small businesses after that such as selling fatkoeks/ amagwinya, amakota etc. (which are all typical township school food) See pics below:

Fatkoeks/ Amagwinya

Ikota 

Fast Fwd to 2005. I start working as a computer teacher at a primary school. I then developed and started a 3 month computer course for the adults in the nearby community to teach computer skills. This was such a challenging but fun experience for me. There is something so fulfilling about starting something from scratch and seeing it to finish. This was a very successful 3 months for the people of Umlazi C section. It was a group of 40 students. This group was made up of teachers, policemen and women, unemployed youth etc. that needed to learn computer skills. The environment was similar to the one below.

Students in a computer lab

FWD to 2008. When I started at UCT, I came with my babies

My babies (Thobile & Thobile)

, Thobile and Thobeka and to survive I saw opportunity to cater for student societies. Naturally, I started a catering business that offered catering services to student societies  and some departments at UCT. My business which is called  Indulge Your Tastebuds specialized  in food platters for events. See pic below

Some of the business offering 

My Catering business logo

In 2010 also tried my luck at the hair business, where I was selling hair extensions in Claremont Cavendish Market. This was very brief because I simply did not have the time andI was juggling too much. Lessons learnt here!!! Never bite too much than you can actually chew. 

FWD to 2013. I enrolled in Post Graduate Management Diploma in Entrepreneurship. This has been an incredible year. I have learnt so much about being an Entrepreneur and also about myself. I have grown so much in so many areas of my life because of this course. Doing this degree has been the best thing I have ever done for myself. I have never been challenged so much, both academically and business wise. The lessons I have learnt on this course I will carry with me throughout the days of my life. This has been an amazing journey and I cannot wait for graduation at the end of this year 2013. My team and I made Ipad covers made out bamboo. The name of this product is Thicket. This is not only stylish and trendy but environmentally friendly and durable.

My Genesis team during our Product Exhibition

Checkout our Facebook page on Thicket Group

I continue to grow as a Entrepreneur.