Growing up in a business orientated family has motivated a Mpumalanga woman to resign as a police officer and start her businesses.
Nelisiwe Sikhosana, from Wolvenkop in Verena, Mpumalanga, now based in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, resigned from the South Africa Police Service (Saps) in 2009 after serving for four years.
Now, she owns different businesses, including poultry, beading decoration, livestock and a mobile kitchen.
Sikhosana’s farming businesses
After her resignation, she went to stay on a family farm, where she grew up, to brainstorm on business ideas.
The first business she launched was poultry farming. She sells chickens, chicks, eggs and other chicken-related products.
“After joining Saps, I realised that being employed was not for me, as I was raised in a family that was in business, especially farming.
“I was born to be a business person; that is why it was difficult for me to wake up and report to somebody else,” Sikhosana told The Citizen.
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Sikhosana stressed that leaving the Saps changed her life.
“I attained my freedom and used the small amount I saved to start my business, which has been doing well.
“I own a huge chicken house with a capacity of 8 446. There are people that I work with to keep the business running,” the entrepreneur said.
Food and vegetables
Sikhosana also runs a mobile kitchen during big events, where she sell food and vegetables that she gets from her garden.
“In the garden, we use the fertiliser that we collect from my chicken house.
“In the future, I wish to see a self-feeding nation, just like the name of my poultry business, fondly known as Feeding the Nation.
“My businesses, apart from the farm, are operating in two provinces, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.”
Skhosana’s clients include the general public and the small businesses dealing with roast chickens.
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In 2013, she used the family farm to start planting sunflowers but, in 2016, she discontinued that and started to focus on maize and livestock.
Sikhosana was reluctant to divulge more information about the livestock business, fearing that she might be targeted by criminals.
“With the assistance of my family, I am continuing livestock and maize farming and we sell the produce to the companies through a local cooperative.
“The business is doing well. My family has been supportive since I started my businesses.”
Bead decorating
Sikhosana is also one of the well-known bead decorators in the country.
She uses beads to decorate every material that her clients want, including shoes, handbags, earrings, belts, blankets, and headbands.
Her beading business was motivated by her mother, who was in the same business.
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Her mother taught her how to decorate things using beads at an early age.
“My clients include young people, which is something I love because it is my duty to show the world that beading is not only about decorating cultural clothing.
“My work is displayed in different exhibitions in the country. My mom and my customers motivated me; they kept on ordering my beads. And saying my work is unique,” she added.
‘Burning desire’
Growing up on her father’s farm instilled her love for farming, farm life and business in general.
She said that from the ’80s, her family, comprising five brothers and two sisters, including her, stayed on the farm in Nkangala, near Bronkhorstspruit.
She grew up watching her father generating an income by making use of his land, while her mother was a bead decorator.
“I used to watch my father when he worked on the farm and my mother when working with her beads, and tell myself that one day I want to be like them.
“That burning desire is one of the things that motivated me. “In the next five years, I would like to see myself as one of the successful business women in the country and seeing my products being exported to other countries.”
Sikhosana is a graduate from the University of South Africa (Unisa), holds a degree in business management and has other qualifications in farming and finance.
She is a member of the Eternal life Zion Ministry led by Bishop Ngqobo, and is based at the Roodepoort branch.
Her favourite meals include pap, tripe, chicken offal and cabbage.
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