"Although I have some problems with businesses who pay rent around here, with some thinking I am stealing their customers, the move is promising." (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
I’ve always wanted to have my own business. So In June 2017 I started selling boerewors rolls on Fox and Albrecht streets in Maboneng. This was on weekends. In the week I kept my job at Workshop17. The place is an entrepreneurial space and I met a lot of people who started small businesses — they inspired me.
I stay around here, so we used to hang around with the guys up until the early hours of the morning. At that time of the night there were a lot of people walking up and down the streets asking us for places that were still open where they could buy food. So, when I was chilling, drinking with my friends, I said: “How about I start something to keep us busy?” They thought I wouldn’t do it, but I did it.
My targets are people coming from grooving late at night. I also want to offer them protection, so I provide free condoms as well.
Last October, my job relocated me to Cape Town. But I had problems settling in and my girlfriend was due to give birth this March. So after December, I quit to come back home to my girlfriend, my unborn child and to focus on my business full time.
Although I have some problems with businesses who pay rent around here, with some thinking I am stealing their customers, the move is promising. I’ve realised that starting a business looks fancy from the outside until you own a business of your own. But I guess what matters the most is putting in time, building it step by step and respecting it.
My dream is to have hotdog street kiosks around Jo’burg’s clubs and provide free condoms as well. — Jacob Mtswene as told to Tshegofatso Mathe