The stuff of legend – an entrepreneurial story
Now, Sipho is an elderly gent – about 1.55m
in length with a small frame but broad shoulders, indicative of many years of
hard work and labour.
His stare is piercing and focused and
one gets the impression that this is not a man to trifle with. He is fit and
one could never say he is in his 60s.
Years ago, Sipho lost his job and the
income potential it had, with a family to support he was down on his luck. He
had to find ways in which to support himself and his family, means that were
legal and did not depend on the state.
Employment opportunities for someone
of his limited skills/education and advanced years were limited, and as is the
case with most entrepreneurs – limitation became the fire that would drive him
to achieve.
Sipho has an interesting business case
– he goes around Bellville Taxi Terminus (the area in Bellville where all the busses,
mini bus and midi bus taxis and train all depart from and arrive to) selling
cleaning services to the taxi drivers.
He offers three options:
- Dusting and polishing the dashboard for R2.00 a taxi
- Sweeping the whole taxi for R5.00
- Sweeping, dusting and polishing for R7.00 a taxi.
All this sounds very trivial and would
not contribute to the GDP or SARS – but he is able to walk away every day with
between R500.00 and R800.00. He is therefore able to walk away with at minimum, R10 000.00
per month. Enough to cover his daily living costs, buy supplies for this
business and take care of his family – without ever being a burden on the
state.
Taking into consideration a country
like South Africa, where minimum wage for contract cleaning was R14.45 per hour
for the period 01/12/2012 to 30/11/2013, translating to R2 312.00 for a
160 hour working month – Sipho is thus a massive success story.
Then his story made me wonder about entrepreneurial
theory – he saw a niche market who could service, with little to no
competitors. Moving away from the usual township business of offering a car
wash, he looked in to mere cleaning. Offering a simple service at a very affordable
price and relying on volumes to get him through. This is similar to the model a
PEPKOR would have.
Looking at our pervasive unemployment numbers,
Sipho is a beacon of hope for young people in South Africa that one can make a
success by simply focusing and taking baby steps.
The journey for Sipho has not been
easy, faith, hard work, luck and the hand of God have all played a major part
in him charting this one man show.
I salute entrepreneurs like Sipho,
unsung heroes offering simple products and services to a multitude of people.
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