Agriculture passion turned into business
Relebohile Nko is the owner and director of a small scale farming company called
Manosi JRM, which is based in Bethulie in the Free State.
The company’s journey in agriculture began in 2017 after Nko and her late husband Jackson Nko acquired a four hectare land for their enterprise. Manosi specialises in chicken broiler, crop production and livestock.
Before venturing into agriculture, Nko worked as a junior accountant. While the business was only registered in 2021, the farm was acquired in 2017.
Speaking to Vukuzenzele, she said her produce was sold depending on customer specifications, such as requesting live or slaughtered chickens.
“I started with 390 broiler chickens, 2 000 seedlings of cabbages and 1 000 seedlings of spinach. We raise the chickens from a day-old to five to six weeks. Some of the customers want them live and others want them slaughtered. The products are also sold at community shops and the community supports us a lot. The company also has 500 layer chickens for egg production that produces up to 50 crates a day,” she said.
Nko explains that the crop production does not happen in winter seasons due to the cold temperatures experienced in the area. Instead, this period is used for soil preparation. The company has 15 part-time employees who assist with planting and harvesting.
Vegetables such as cabbages, spinach and tomatoes are produced for sale. Chicken pieces, full chicken, chicken liver, chicken heads, and chicken feet are packaged to meet customer demands.
At the moment, the company has three interns and four permanent employees working and assisting with daily operations of the business. Manosi's success was partly made possible by a R32 000 funding the company received from the department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) in the Free State. Nko received the Female Entrepreneur Award as a second runner-up to the Top Entrepreneur Small Holder Producer.
Another funding was received through winning the R200 000 first prize at Youth in Business Pitch from an Agroprocessing presentation that was hosted by the Free State