SA delicacy = profitable business

Doing business in a male-dominated industry comes with challenges, but breaking into an industry where the isn’t space for women is empowering. Doing all this and preserving the culture of indigenous foods is remarkable.

When Phuti Kabasa started her business she was driven by the need to be financially stable and that journey saw her tap into a market that would enable her to make a South African delicacy accessible to a large market.

Mopani Queens, with the slogan “get a bug today” is a brand that is centred around delicious bite-sized, protein-filled, ready to eat Mopani worm snacks. The snacks come in four recognisable flavours bbq, peri-peri, salted or chutney flavours have make this superfood, insect snack a must-have.

Kabasa admits that being an entrepreneur isn’t a walk in the park and one should always be ready for challenges. This one-woman headed business is growing, even though she is still working from home and her partner helps her from time to time, she has plans to move into bigger premises and employ more people because this is a labour-intensive business that needs her to get her hands dirty.

Lessons learnt

As challenging as Covid has been, one of the lessons she learnt is that things won’t always go according to plan. You need a plan A, B and even C.

Kabasa adds that entrepreneurs need to be ready for challenges and have backup plans because this will help them plan for the future.

She also adds that entrepreneurs need to register their business from the onset and get an IP because we live in a world where there are copycats because in the end this is your brand and you need to protect it. More importantly, entrepreneurs need to have a financial blueprint. They need to have separate financial accounts for the business and their personal needs. This will prevent them from cross spending or cross funding. One of the things that entrepreneurs seem to miss or overlook is the need for a financial trial. If you know what is coming in, one will have a clear view of where they are and where they are going which will help them map out their growth plan.

Need for support

Kabasa has proved herself in the entrepreneur space, she survived lockdown and capitalised on the fact that people could not go out to buy food so her online store saw a lot of traffic.

The pandemic also showed her that she doesn’t need a physical shop. All she needs to make sure is that her products are available to the market through various retailers and this taught her the importance of agility.

As she continues on this journey, like many other entrepreneurs she wishes she had financial support, in the form of funding. And Kabasa might have started this journey bootstrapping things but she is well on her way to becoming a successful business owner with a brand that has an international appeal.

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