Five years ago, Cynthia Mokgobu started a tiny farming operation in her backyard in the Limpopo village of Bochum, South Africa. Today, she’s supplying vegetables to markets as far afield as the neighboring province Gauteng and is well on her way to realising her dream of becoming a fully-fledged potato farmer and ensuring food security for her entire village.
The ambitious 29-year-old entrepreneur studied ornamental horticulture at the University of South Africa, but quickly realised during her internship that she wanted to do something more tangible with her skills. From a vegetable patch in her backyard, she is now the proud owner of Mosibudi Trading Enterprise, which farms spinach, butternut and cabbage for local markets, and baby marrows for the lucrative Gauteng markets, on three hectares of land outside the village.
Her next goal is to join the developer programme at Potatoes SA, a non-profit industry association representing South African potato producers, and she has just planted her first hectare of potatoes.
Cynthia’s farming journey is also being supported by the De Beers AWOME program, which runs an intensive enterprise development programme to help build skills and create jobs in its host communities, with a focus on woman- and youth-owned businesses.
Run in partnership with UN Women and local governments, the AWOME (Accelerating Women Owned Micro Enterprises) programme provides mentoring, networking, and business and life skills training for women entrepreneurs in De Beers Group’s host countries of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. To date De Beers has announced $6 million in investment in the programme to support women entrepreneurs in our partner countries, with more than 1,800 women business owners having been supported to date,
“By developing local SMMEs like Cynthia, and supporting them to become sustainable, we can create a lasting impact through skills development, job creation, thriving businesses, and more prosperous communities,” said Livhuwani Nwachukwu, Socio-Economic Development Manager at De Beers’ Venetia Mine.
“Getting involved in the De Beers’ enterprise development programme has been an eye-opener for the business,” says Cynthia. “They have helped me develop my business, management and marketing skills beyond what I could have dreamed of. This has given me the confidence to expand and compete more effectively in the marketplace.”
Since joining the programme, one of her first learnings has been to diversify. This has seen her doing landscaping on the side, and even giving farming lessons and advice to small farmers across sub-Saharan Africa via video calls. She also aims to build her partnership with Potatoes SA – but first, she’ll need to debush 16 hectares of land, install a center pivot and another borehole, and upgrade her electricity to a three-phase supply. It’s a massive challenge, but she’s ready for it.
“My dream is to see my village being able to feed itself, and to become productive. There’s a high rate of youth unemployment in the area, and I believe that farming will be able to give my people jobs, food and income,” she says.
Cynthia has five tips for other entrepreneurs in her position: “One, start small. Start with what you have. Two, have a second source of income if you can. Three, try to find land where you live. It’s hard to manage a business from a distance. Four, make sure you have water before you start anything. You can’t rely on rain alone. And five, start in your own back yard. Introduce yourself to the market. Once people know you, it’s easier to sell your products to them.