Doorway to Success
When Zanele Ntsibande started her business, Lokuhle, she had no idea that there would be a company that mentors her in an effort to help her succeed.
Zanele Ntsibande started her career in the financial sector. After working for a while, she decided to go it alone and start her own business, Lokuhle. “I ventured into becoming an entrepreneur in 2008 and I initially started with office supplies. I continued on that path until 2011 when I decided that I wanted to get into the business of manufacturing wooden doors,” she says. In 2012, Lokuhle officially started manufacturing wooden doors but it wasn’t long before there were some bumps in the road. “I went through some legal issues in 2013 that slowed things down a bit,” Zanele explains. But it wasn’t all bad news; Zanele was accepted into the Massmart Supplier Development Programme. This came with its own set of challenges. “The programme aims to uplift manufacturers like myself get into certain stores. The programme did not allow for me to work without a hot press machine and I didn’t have the means to buy one.” Zanele reached out to one of Motheo’s founders, Tim Potter, who is her church elder, for advice. He introduced her to Dr Thandi and Chris Cudmore and she explained the situation that Lokuhle found itself in. “Motheo bought us the machine, funded our working capital for three months and have been clients of ours as well.” For Zanele, the support has been a game changer for Lokuhle. “There have been so many aspects of business that Motheo has helped me with. They look at details such as the health of my business and they use their buying power to help small businesses. There were business elements that I didn’t know about that have gone such a long way that I learnt from Motheo.” The growth within Lokuhle has been evident; they have gone from making between 800 and 1000 doors a month to now making between 4000 and 5000 doors a month. “We are very proud of the growth we have been able to achieve and with each passing year, we learn new things that will help us grow even more.” Lokuhle’s plans for expansion include wanting bring more of their process in-house. “The plan is to produce in-house as much as possible and be less dependent on outsiders for raw materials. We want to own as much of our raw material as possible. We also want to bring more products into the market, tapping into the DIY space. We are very excited about what is to come,” she concludes.
