Catherine Mahubane is a name not known to the vast majority of South Africans and yet she stands tall as an example to all of courage, conviction, faith and vision.
The small village of Puleng is home to about eighty inhabitants and lies approximately 230 km northeast of Johannesburg. It is here that Catherine Mahubane decided to carve out a new future for herself and her family. She made the decision that spending time away from family and friends working as a domestic worker for those wealthier than herself in far away cities was not an acceptable option in her life. She had a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) : Open a peanut butter factory.
Armed with only a Grade 10 education this remarkable woman set about casting the vision to the people of her village, preparing the soil using only picks and shovels and preparing to harvest her first crop of peanuts to make into peanut butter. Lacking basic farm machinery and factory equipment the roasted nuts were ground using the traditional back-breaking method of hand-grinding. Despite these obstacles the first jar of Kono Kono Peanut Butter was produced to great celebration.
The story from then on is even more remarkable. Now the legally registered Kodumela Trading Cooperative boasts six hectares of farmland, a factory building with store and sales office, flushing toilets, a generator for electricity, a maching for removing peanut shells without damaging the nuts, a grinder and a mixer. This success is due in part to the help given to Catherine by Africare SA, the US Department of Agriculture and the South African Department of Agriculture.
Today Catherine is the General Manager and a shareholder of Kodumela Trading Cooperative. She has secured the rights for 70 hectares of farming land and this year alone plans to clear and plant 20 hectares of peanuts and 6 hectares of vegetables.
The Kodumela Trading Cooperative has been an inspiration to many of the villagers and those in surrounding areas. Their success has enabled other enterprising rural entrepreneurs to start up their own concerns. One local villager has acquired a tractor which he hires, along with himself, to the Kodumela Trading Cooperative and other budding farmers in the area.
Catherine's story is an inspiration. She shows us the power of a dream and personal determination. Hers is a story of economic upliftment through entrepreneurship and of rising above one's circumstances to improve the lives of others.
To hear an audio clip about this wonderful story click here. http://www.justicetalking.org/mp3/061016_PBReport.mp3
The small village of Puleng is home to about eighty inhabitants and lies approximately 230 km northeast of Johannesburg. It is here that Catherine Mahubane decided to carve out a new future for herself and her family. She made the decision that spending time away from family and friends working as a domestic worker for those wealthier than herself in far away cities was not an acceptable option in her life. She had a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) : Open a peanut butter factory.
Armed with only a Grade 10 education this remarkable woman set about casting the vision to the people of her village, preparing the soil using only picks and shovels and preparing to harvest her first crop of peanuts to make into peanut butter. Lacking basic farm machinery and factory equipment the roasted nuts were ground using the traditional back-breaking method of hand-grinding. Despite these obstacles the first jar of Kono Kono Peanut Butter was produced to great celebration.
The story from then on is even more remarkable. Now the legally registered Kodumela Trading Cooperative boasts six hectares of farmland, a factory building with store and sales office, flushing toilets, a generator for electricity, a maching for removing peanut shells without damaging the nuts, a grinder and a mixer. This success is due in part to the help given to Catherine by Africare SA, the US Department of Agriculture and the South African Department of Agriculture.
Today Catherine is the General Manager and a shareholder of Kodumela Trading Cooperative. She has secured the rights for 70 hectares of farming land and this year alone plans to clear and plant 20 hectares of peanuts and 6 hectares of vegetables.
The Kodumela Trading Cooperative has been an inspiration to many of the villagers and those in surrounding areas. Their success has enabled other enterprising rural entrepreneurs to start up their own concerns. One local villager has acquired a tractor which he hires, along with himself, to the Kodumela Trading Cooperative and other budding farmers in the area.
Catherine's story is an inspiration. She shows us the power of a dream and personal determination. Hers is a story of economic upliftment through entrepreneurship and of rising above one's circumstances to improve the lives of others.
To hear an audio clip about this wonderful story click here. http://www.justicetalking.org/mp3/061016_PBReport.mp3
Any exporters, wholesale traders or other interested parties are welcome to contact me and I will connect you with the cooperative.
1 comment:
Awesome and inspiring! Small business development is a major way of cracking the 'nut' that is poverty! But someone whose vision then builds a healthier community, such as Catherine is doing, is a true ambassador of ubuntu.
Thanks for sharing this. We need to hear more of these stories to know that we are advancing forward!
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