Winning entrepreneur will grow her dreams
At only 23, Inga Mdunyelwa from Flagstaff excelled as the overall winner of the annual Eastern Cape Female Entrepreneur Awards and walked away with
R250,000.
The awards were hosted by the department of rural development and agrarian reform at the Thobi Kula Indoor Sports Complex in Komani on Thursday evening.
Mdunyelwa, who also won
R125,000 as the top entrepreneur in the processing sector, has been involved in Pondoland Brand Milling since 2013.
“We supply poultry feed to 82 Shoprite stores in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. We also supply 16 SPAR and Boxer stores in East London,” she said.
The mill employs 67 permanent employees.
“We plan to do exports and imports. We want to have our own rice and sorghum brands and this is where we plan to use the money. I will also use my winnings to study agriculture.” said Mdunyelwa.
She inherited her love of farming from her mother.
“While growing up, my mother only bought maize and used vegetables from her garden.
“I remember following her around the garden, but I did not realise at the time that she was inspiring me.
“She did not have an education yet her children did not sleep on empty stomachs. People have gardens, yet they keep asking for grant increases.
“I believe people need to be educated about the importance of agriculture and my village will be the first place I start.”
Rural development and agrarian reform MEC Xolile Nqatha said: “We are not only crediting you for producing food or rearing animals, we are also saluting the contribution you have made to the economic development of our province and the country.”
Nqatha said the department distributed cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and pigs for projects in the province.
During the 2016/17 financial year, R5m was used to support
268 women’s projects in agriculture.
“In the last financial year, in a bid to encourage food security programmes led by women, we increased the investment by
100%,” Nqatha said.
“We invested R10m, solely for women to produce and sell food.”
The department offers accredited and non-accredited courses, learnerships and mentorship programmes to farmers, including women and the youth.
This saw 454 women trained during the 2016/17 financial year.
Nqatha thanked Old Mutual for sponsoring the event.