By Tanya McClean
Making inroads in the manufacturing sector
Both young entrepreneurs in the chemicals industry, Andile Mncwabe, 27 and Kwakho Madikwa, 27 were determined they were not going to end up sitting up home, being a statistic among unemployed youth.
Mncwabe, who is based in a rural area just outside Greytown, said she started her company Ma Andi Kaluthando by mixing her liquid detergents and cleansers in drums at home in 2016.
“There are a lot of young people in my area who are not working and I thought I would show them that you don’t have to sit at home doing nothing, there is always something you can sell. Get up and do it.
“Unemployment is so high, I also wanted to come up with something to create jobs. I started making detergents from scratch, buying all the chemicals and materials and mixing them myself,” said Mncwabe, who had completed a course in detergents and chemicals at Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) in Durban.
That was the start of the Luthando brand of liquid soaps and detergents which is now stocked by Spar in Pietermaritzburg – while Mncwabe has seven employees.
“I started informally and began supplying wholesalers, stores, B&Bs, schools and churches. I formalised the business in 2017, but it takes a long time,” she said.
She added that key to her business success was going out and marketing her product on a face to face basis with a prospective.
“I started with emailing and similar marketing strategies, but I have found there is nothing more effective than going out to see a client. That gives you the chance to show them your product and how it works, you can chat about price and most importantly, they will remember you,” she said.
Mncwabe has that entrepreneurial sixth sense for opportunity – she said that when Covid-19 first came to the fore in China early last year, “it was in February that people started speaking about it and I thought ‘this will open doors for me’, there’s going to be a need for sanitisers.”
She did a course in sanitisers, saying that while she has diversified her product range, her main business focus remains in detergents.
“I had one customer who asked me if I could also supply her with tissues, so that inspired me to branch out into supplying the product,” she said.
Having been through tough times, Mncwabe said one of her most memorable moments was her first profit of R3000.
“I had worked so hard for that,” she said adding that her main challenge has been competitors, but that quality always counts.
“Smell and lots of bubbles are key for an effective product. I usually use Lemon Extreme.”
“I am so passionate about this business. I make sure my customers get a quality product. I always say cleanliness is showing love for yourself,” said Mncwabe.
Also passionate about his business, Kwakho Madikwa from ML Scents, studied chemistry at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology (CPUT) before setting up his chemical and cosmetics manufacturing company.
Based in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, Madikwa said, “I’m very innovative and when I was at school and learned about Newton (scientist Isaac Newton), I fell in love with science and then chemistry.”
He created the ML Scents cosmetic brand, which is popular for perfumes and body creams and ML Hygiene which includes products such as dishwashing liquids and sanitisers.
“I have also got into pest control and we also develop products such as the foot lever stands for sanitisers. I am always on the look-out for business,” he said.
Wanting to inspire his community and tackle unemployment, Madikwa now has seven employees and 170 distributors.
“The demand for the perfumes and body creams is very good and I’d like to have distributors and open shops across the country, but my goal at the moment is to expand into the Eastern Cape and then to Gauteng. We develop, manufacture and package.”
“The community buys our products in bulk and to resell them at our recommended market price. We are always looking for agents to sell,” he said, adding that different products sell at different times of the year, for example: there is an increase in demand over the festive season for products people use when going out, such as perfume.
“I play with the market when it plays with me. Our main challenge is when business is slow. I have a bakkie, so as a side hustle I do furniture removals,” he said.
One of the greatest moments in his entrepreneurial career was being selected by the SAB Foundation for mentorship/business development programme.
“I was selected out of thousands of applicants and that made me feel as if I was going somewhere. The level of commitment I have put into the business will result in success, there is no other option,” he said.