Duncan Village’s entrepreneurs
Residents escape unemployment, poverty trap by setting up stalls along busy route
FACED with the challenges of high unemployment and low levels of education, residents from Duncan Village have turned to entrepreneurship to keep poverty at bay.
From washing cars, mending shoes to selling cooked meals along the side of the road, residents have taken the initiative to survive. According to a survey conducted by Buffalo City Metro (BCM) on the quality of life in Duncan Village, more than 60% of the population are unemployed and close to 50% did not reach matric. Only 9% of residents have reached a tertiary level of education, close to 80% live in shacks and 80% receive an income of less than R3 500 a month.
The Daily Dispatch earlier this week, took a drive down Douglas Smith Highway – the 3.5km stretch of road that runs through Duncan Village – where many have set up their businesses, to speak to the entrepreneurs.
At least 10 car wash businesses, eight barber shops, dozens of fruit and vegetables stalls, a tyre repair business, carpenters, shoe repair businesses and women selling cooked meals, operate along this stretch of road. One of the longstanding entrepreneurs is Themba Ndyebi and his wife Bongiwe who, in 1996, built a boma from stick and plastic bags from which to operate their barber shop and sewing business.
Ndyebi said he used his last pay cheque to start the business after being retrenched from a construction company. “When I was told that there was no longer a job for me, I decided to take my last salary and do something that will help sustain the family in the future.
“I bought a hair-clipper, a sewing machine, a mirror, as well as an inverter to connect to a car battery to power the appliances.
“Over the years the couple’s business has grown from the boma structure to a big one-room shack and they have managed to buy three taxi’s from the profits of their business.
Ndyebi runs the barber shop and his wife Bongiwe does the sewing.
“With the money from the business we are able to put food on the table and pay for the education of our children,” he said. The couple have four children, aged between two and 19 years.
Timothy Phaliso makes at least R2 500-a-month from his car tyre sales and repair business. The 54year-old said he acquired the skills from years of working at a vehicle repair garage in Amalinda.
“After losing my job, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I used the skill that I had acquired to make money. I collected old tyres in the location, I stacked them up on the side of the road, bought a secondhand compressor and soon I had cars stopping requiring my service,” he said. The father of four who is the sole breadwinner, said starting-up his business was the best decision ever.
“I am in demand, people come knocking on my door in the middle of the night requiring my service,” he said.
Phaliso now employs two young people, who assist him to fit and repair the tyres.
“I want the youth of Duncan Village to stop depending on government to provide jobs and instead become the creators of jobs,” he said.
Located on one of the corners on the highway is Nomachina Phetheni’s spot for popular cooked umnqambulo (cow head’s meat).
The business is run from a wellventilated shack furnished with a wooden table and plastic chairs, so customers can sit and enjoy their meal. Phetheni, 49, who has been selling umnqambulo since 1993, cooks the meat in traditional Xhosa pots (three-legged black pots) outside on a fire. Phetheni said she owed the success of her business to her secret ingredient, a chilli sauce, that she added to the meat.
“People can’t keep away from my restaurant, lawyers dressed in suits and ties, police officers dressed in their uniforms and teachers come all the way from their comfortable offices to have lunch at my restaurant,” she said. A customer who was enjoying his meal at the restaurant, Thulani Moshani, said he was one of the customers who kept coming back for more. “The meat is filling and very tasty, it’s hard to keep away,” said Moshani.
Msondezi Belani, who runs his car wash business from the side of the road, has managed to grow his business to the extent that he now employs 10 young people.
Belani said he just woke up one day about six years ago fed-up with poverty and gangsterism.
“I was unemployed and could not afford the things that I wanted and on this particular morning I had a conversation with myself.
“I asked myself if this was the life I wanted and the answer was no,” he said. Belani, 40, said he took the few rands he had in his pocket and went to a nearby supermarket to buy liquid soap, black shoe polish, a cloth and a bucket. He got water from a nearby communal tap and informed motorists about his car washing service. Six years later, Belani uses a pressure cleaner and a vacuum cleaner to wash cars.
“I thank God for helping me to help others and, as you can see for yourself, I can afford much more now,” said Belani, pointing at his leather shoes. — arethal@dispatch.