“Determined” is the adjective that seems to fit Linda Olga Nghatsane best. What else do you call a public health practitioner who built up a successful farm in just three years, all in order to combat malnutrition? Last week, her determination was recognised when she won not only the business entrepreneur award, but also the overall title of Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year 2007.
Together with her husband, Johnson, she bought a 10ha farm near Nelspruit in 2004. “It was a patch of land with no development, no infrastructure, no electricity and no water,” she recalls. The intrepid pair set to work clearing the bush, mostly by hand, and with the help of three men built an access road. The next step was water. A first attempt at drilling a borehole failed, at a cost of R36 000. The second borehole hit water at 60m, but proved to have a low yield.
Three years later, those 10ha are barely recognisable. One of her first projects was a broiler chicken house for 1 000 chickens. The poultry was sold out within months and she now has capacity for 25 000 chickens. She also grows strawberries, oyster mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables. Except for a mortgage and a grant they obtained from the provincial department of agriculture and land administration, which funded fencing, two broiler chicken houses and a borehole, they have used only their own funds. The farm now has an annual turnover of R2-million a year.
But, despite her success, 49-year-old Nghatsane’s primary motivation for the farm was not the chance to own her own business. She is a nurse by profession, with a master’s degree in public health. While training women in nutrition, she was confronted by the reality of poverty and malnutrition. “Yes, this is good information,” they told her. “But we have no money to buy this food.”
For Nghatsane, her farm was a way to put theory into practice, combining agriculture with health to support community development, create jobs and train people to grow their own food. The number of jobs on her farm fluctuates depending on the projects, but she says it has reached 14 on occasion.
She now conducts training on planting vegetables in plastic bags, poultry and oyster mushroom production as well as care and support for orphans and vulnerable children. Using plastic bags as plant containers conserves water, helps the plants grow faster and makes food production more accessable. Nghatsane explains that the plants can be moved around as sun or shade are needed and can be grown in a small space, “even on your veranda”. Oyster mushrooms are “a very good alternative protein source”, with between 15% and 35% protein, and can boost immune response, especially in people living with HIV/Aids. The mushrooms are less expensive than meat and are tasty.
Nghatsane has no formal training in agriculture. Instead, during work trips to other countries, she paid attention to rural communities. “I was able to observe how they’re doing things,” she said. She also relies on her husband’s farming skills.
But entrepreneurship, and for that matter, farming, is not new to her. “I grew up in a family that was involved in farming. They owned a plot the same size as ours. They also had small shops and they involved us in their businesses.”
She is still digesting the news of her award. “I didn’t really expect to win,” she said. “God wanted it that way, because the standard was very high.”
I ask if she has any advice for budding entrepreneurs. “I would encourage them to persevere, to do what they want to do. Start small, learn on the way, expand as you go. I’ve had my challenges. I persevered. I’m not comparing myself with anyone. I’m not in competition. I’m doing it my way.”