Entrepreneurs solve the needs of those around them – it can provide a means when the employment market fails. This is the case in the story of Mr Cyril Sobuza – an entrepreneur from Soweto.
A natural entrepreneur is born
Mr Cyril Sobuza was a security guard in the security industry for the majority of his life. At the age of 52 he found himself unemployed. He was retrenched in the fall-out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With no prospect of employment and a family to take care of, Mr Sobuza turned to entrepreneurship to provide for his family.
“I started completely on my own and had no one to teach me how to run a business” he said when asked where he learned. “At least I had the example of my father who sold chickens when I was a boy, but that was very long ago.”
He figured things out for himself and found a niche selling snacks on a very busy walking thoroughfare. Selling sweets and cold drinks was the obvious way to start. The people have now become so used to me selling here. They ask me where I was if I am away for a day.
Identifying the opportunites
Mr Sobuza always has an eye open for the next opportunity. “The traffic department is around here. There are a lot of people coming through here going to the traffic department. Many of them need photos for their temporary documents.” Mr Sobuza saw the need in the market and responded quickly. After purchasing a “Selfie-printer”, he started selling these photos to the public.
He isn’t the only one there selling these photos, however he explained in some length how he differentiates his offering from the competitors. One of the tactics he uses is through product bundling. This provides the customer with greater value for money, while he increases revenue at a decent margin.
That isn’t the end of Mr Sobuza’s growth and diversification ambitions. He has realised that general photo printing services is a truly underserved need in the community. There are only a few shops in the township providing this service. “People have their photos on their phones, but the have to travel far to print them if they want them on paper.”
He has done some thorough planning considering the market need, the technical constraints he will need to overcome, price of printers that can serve within the technical constraints and other factors like product bundling, pricing and advertising. Through this process he has identified another need for outdoor advertising serving a less literate environment with audio advertisements played on the street over a public address system. This has become another venture he is investigating thoroughly to enter.
The result
“I have 2 girls and a boy and my wife maintains the household at home. My income from this business looks after the whole family. It is allowing me to put my children through FET college, sewing school and high school.”
“Xhantela really helps a lot. It gives me tips. I learn a lot from Xhantela. The way Xhantela teaches people, they are able to go up and grow their businesses.”
Entrepreneurship is about identifying a need and solving it in a profitable way. We solute Mr Sobuza and all entrepreneurs that are looking after their families while serving the needs within their communities.
Photos by Shornespear Photography