Mdlaka capitalises on child’s play
When Yolanda Mdlaka installed eye-catching jungle gyms for her new pre-school in the Eastern Cape in 2015, she opened the floodgates of enquiring admirers who wished the same for their facilities.
Instead of being the middle person of the enquirers to the supplier, the 38-year-old pounced on a business opportunity to make the climbing frames. And with that, Enzo Jungle Gyms was born.
At the time, Mdlaka worked as a sales administrator for an information technology
company in Midrand,
Gauteng.
“At that time I was still employed, so I was doing it part-time. I formally registered the business in 2020 and I resigned from my work because I could see that there was a demand,” she said.
When she started the pre-school, she transported the equipment back to the Eastern Cape.
“People and other pre-schools around the area saw my pre-school looking beautiful and they started to enquire about where and how I was getting the jungle gyms,” she told Vuk’uzenzele in a recent interview.
With no welding skills to rely on, she approached welders she knew to set the wheels in motion.
“I asked them if they could duplicate the jungle gyms I showed them and they said yes. The first jungle gym was built and the rest is history,” she said.
Initially, Mdlaka purchased a container to operate from on an open field in Olievenhoutbosch, in Centurion. But due to security concerns and business booming, Enzo moved to its current local in a factory in Midrand.
With the business retaining its interest from pre-schools in the Eastern Cape, demand