Times Of Swaziland: Entrepreneur in the making

Entrepreneur in the making
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ZITSILE MAZIYA on 24/03/2013 00:00:00


...The food industry in Swaziland is really GOOD AND the market for catering is
enormous compared to Joburg...”
She was born in 1982 in   Johannesburg and moved to  Swaziland when she was just
two years old. She is the second born in a family of five. She grew up in
Thembelihle, Mbabane before they settled in Motshane. She is a product of St
Francis in Mbabane. After completing her high school she went to pursue her
studies at the University of Zululand where she did Psychology for a year.
When she came back she joined Channel Swazi where she was a newsreader for about
five months. She then joined the Times of Swaziland and worked as a proof-reader
for two years.
She moved back to Johannesburg in 2005 where she was employed as a Personal
Assistant for her brother Victor Ndlovu and Sello Rasethaba in Sandton. With the
itinerant life she finally moved back to the country last year in December to
venture into the catering business.
This is Phumzile Ndlovu, the young industrialist who grew up in a business
family.
When she was in high school she worked for her father at Prestige Guest House.
She also worked at her mother’s salon as well as her grocery shop.
After her high school she was crowned Miss Mbabane First Princess and she told
STYLE that was one of the best moments in her life.
Here is more about her and her business.
STYLE: Tell us why you decided to, at long last, move back to the country?
PHUMZILE:
I was so tired of Johannesburg and the fast life there. I have lived there for
so many years and I thought coming back home to do some business would be a
great idea.
STYLE: Tell us more about your business.
PHUMZILE: Basically in the company we deal with food. It is a new company called
Nambitha. I started it with my mother and my older sister. We do corporate
lunches and platters for offices, conferences, workshops and parties during the
week, then on weekends, we focus on weddings, engagement parties and baby
showers.  The company is really growing drastically and we make new customers
every single day. The food industry in Swaziland is really good and the market
for catering is enormous compared to Joburg where you have to be some sort of a
celebrity for it to work. My mother loves cooking and she is one of the best
chefs. We cook and deliver.
STYLE: Because you are three in the company, what happens when you have to take
care of weddings or parties with a large number?
PHUMZILE: In cases like that we then outsource. We hire casuals for that day
only. We do not do decor but even there we help in getting another company to
decorate that venue.
STYLE: Where did you learn how to cook?
PHUMZILE: Like I mentioned before, my mother is one of the best chefs ever. She
taught me and my sister how to cook at a very tender age. I grew up with it. I
am still learning how to cook other dishes which I pick from other spots where I
visit. I have since developed a hobby of eating out most of the time.
STYLE: Apart from catering, what else do you do?
PHUMZILE: I love organising parties. I believe I am unsurpassed on that aspect.
I am organising a 21
st birthday party for a friend’s daughter at the moment. I am not good with
organising weddings.
STYLE: What is your favourite dish that you think you are first-class in
preparing?
PHUMZILE: I do not think there is anyone who can hammer me in preparing chicken
curry. This is one dish I never go wrong when cooking.
STYLE: Where do you shop for your cooking ingredients?
PHUMZILE: For meat we have someone who delivers it then for the rest of the
cooking ingredients we buy them in some shops at the Mbabane industrial sites.
STYLE: Is eating the first thing you do when you wake up?
PHUMZILE:  No. The first thing I do when I wake up is brush my teeth and have a
cup of coffee. I take one cup of coffee a day.
STYLE: When you are not in the kitchen, what do you do?
PHUMZILE: I spend time with my two beautiful daughters. The first born is seven
and the last born is two years old.