A young lady (Nolwazi Matsimbe) who graduated at Rosebank College with a Journalism qualification started her own business assisted by her twin sister.
Her journey embarked when she joined Mr Price a retail shop as she sought ways to generate better income; instead of relying on one income she made an effort to get money from her side hustle. As she was employed she worked very hard which prompted her promotion when she joined another retail store. Nolwazi lost her father in 2007, now she is left with her three siblings.
Nolwazi started selling ice cream with her twin sister in 2019 then later decided to rebrand and she added something different to it, than just selling ice cream. She wanted to bring something different in the township rather than what already existed. Nolwazi told Ekurhuleni News that “I wanted something to go hand in hand with what already exists, especially with our bunny chows ( Kotas), I wanted to retain that township culture. Rebranding the ice cream business meant that I had to rethink a few things, especially attracting different customers and so forth, nonetheless I introduced milkshakes and splashes. I want people to get everything within our area rather than having to go to the malls or watch movies in order to get the products I’m selling, why I can’t bring them here in township,” I thought.
Swigiri started in 2020 September where there was a launch in White City KwaThema and i received so much support from friends. she told Ekurhuleni News: “What made Swigiri grow is the Sunday cookout sessions where different small businesses would be granted an opportunity to showcase their products, the sessions were hosted by Kgopolo at Bahama Bar. The name Swigiri came to mind when I thought of something sweet or a frozen dessert but I didn’t want to name it in the common English language, as I wanted something more in our African language, therefore I came up with the name that represented something which is sugary and sweet in an African language and that was in IsiNdebele(Swigiri).”
Currently Nolwazi mentions that the business has been slow with the regulations in place, but she is hoping that things will be better when the regulations have been eased. she also shared that she is happy as it hasn’t been even a year, but Swigiri has done so well and the people are responding to it. As a young entrepreneur Nolwazi encourages people to start now, with what they believe in.
By Vuyokazi Bam
