From a very young age, while still at school, local entrepreneur Mahlatse Matlakane (20) used to spend her holidays working on nearby farms in Tolwe, Limpopo, to help support her mother and siblings. After completing matric in 2016, she applied to study Law but could not shake her love for farming and agriculture and decided to spend her gap year planting and growing green peppers in her village. Upon realising the success of her crops, she asked for more land from the Village Chief and so Wozilex was born. After only a year and a half, together with four permanent employees, Mahlatse successfully managed to grow eight hectares of green peppers which she supplies to various supermarkets and fresh produce markets.
She is one of 12 small business owners who have received a cash injection and marketing support valued at over R70 000 as part of Shoprite’s Hustle competition. The competition calls on small business owners with an annual turnover of less that R1 million and who want to grow their business to enter. A total of 36 winners (12 per month) will be selected and entries are open until 22 September 2018. To enter, simply visit https://hustle.shoprite.co.za/.Mahlatse’s dreams go a lot further than herself, her business and her passion for green peppers. ͞I dream of growing Wozilex and starting a college to educate young black women in farming and agriculture, especially the farming of green peppers,͟ she said. Her dreams will not only help alleviate poverty in her community but will empower young women to also follow their passion and aim higher than their circumstances. View her Thundafund account to see how you can help invest in her business initiative and help grow her dream: www.thundafund.com/project/wozilexENDS
